Casey's 10K Training Log

Ran 4 miles on the tread mill (46 minutes to complete).  Felt pretty good afterwards, but upper legs a little sore towards the end.  I feel confident that I can finish the 10K, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring my average mileage time down.

No running today, but I did buy new running shoes!  I went to 3 Rivers Running Company in Fort Wayne (Indiana).  They videotaped my running gate, showed me how much I pronate during running, then picked out a great pair of shoes.  Now I am officially ready to start 10K training!

Ran 2 miles on treadmill.  Feeling a bit sluggish during run, but just had to try out new running shoes.  They felt great!  I plan on running a few more miles tomorrow.

Slept in today and it felt great!  Ran 3 miles on treadmill.  My starting speed was not fast enough because I was able to increase the speed during last mile.  Started at 11:44 pace and ended with 11:19 pace.  I'm looking forward to the days where I can run outside without freezing to death...

No running today since I have a class after work .  But, since my training program says today is a rest day, there are no worries!  Tomorrow I'll be doing interval training...I HATE interval training, I don't care how good it is for me.

Interval day.  Started with a 1 mile warm-up.  Ran 4 x 1.5 minute intervals at a 10:20 pace (my goal race pace is 10:30).  At Linda10K's suggestion, I increased the speed of my last interval to 10:00.   Finished with a 1 mile cool down.  Felt really good during the interval "fast" runs. 

My 10K training program officially starts this week.  I've been using the week to start to get into the groove of running 5-times a week again.  I'm excited to be starting a new workout program.

I think I'm coming down with something, I felt terrible today.  I decided to ride the bike for 25-minutes instead of doing a run.  After the bike ride I felt a bit better and the headache I had been sporting all day actually went away!  As much as I hate to admit it, maybe working out really is good for you :)

Two miles easy on the treadmill.  I got the gym late, so Kim was not around to entertain me, but Karen was nice enough to take Kim's place!

They are calling for 6-10 inches of snow tonight, and according to the doppler radar its snowing now, but it must be invisible snow because I'm looking out the window and I'm not seeing anything.

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, so if it does snow, I have an excuse to skip going to the gym.  Of course we're going skiing on Saturday, so I might miss running that day as well.  I think skiing is a good enough workout on its own.

Weight training today.  Legs, arms, back, shoulders...not very exciting. 

Snowboarding today.  Only the 2nd time I've ever tried it, and I'm still no good.  At least this time I was able to make it down the bunny hill on the board, and not my butt. 

I fear that my legs will retaliate tomorrow and make it impossible to do a run.  If I'm really lucky, I'll be able to find some non-snow covered sidewalks to run on.  The treadmill is starting to get old (and its only been a week!).

ARGH!!! Did not run today because I was studying for my microbiology exam.  I am such a nerd.

No running, I have class (and my exam) today.

Wish me luck :)

2.5 miles on a treadmill today.  I had wanted to run outside, but it was raining (again), so I was stuck inside.  I don't particularly enjoy running on the treadmill as much as I have been, but the weather is not cooperating.

Pace was 11:19 per mile.  I'm debating on what type of run I should do tomorrow.  I might do intervals again since I had a good run with it last week.

More crappy weather. Rain mixed with snow making for a very slippery sidewalk. Once again I was forced to run on the treadmill. The good news is that our workout facility (that installed personal TV's on the cardio equipment about 6 months ago) finally hooked up the cable to the personal TV's, so I got to watch one of my favorite shows while running. Makes the treadmill a little more interesting!

Today I decided to pick up the pace a little bit and tried running a 10:54 pace. It actually felt pretty good which makes me realize I'm not pushing myself enough.  I guess I need to work on that a little bit.

Started to run and was NOT having a good time of it, so I switched to an elliptical instead (I figured this was better than nothing).  And since I was using an elliptical, I decided to do a hill workout.  I only did 30-minutes, but it felt a LOT better than my run was.  I have no idea what distance I covered on the elliptical.

Tomorrow will hopefully be a better running day.

More treadmill running, and I had to cut my workout short because I was meeting a friend for dinner right after work.

Ran a 10:54 pace again for the 2 miles.  I really wanted to add the 3rd mile, so I feel good that I can maintain this pace for more than just 2 miles.

Had to get out of bed at 6 a.m. to get this run in before a few exciting rounds of Laser Tag (a girl's get-together).  I was quite tired, and was not very motivated to run a fast pace.  I really just wanted to get some distance in, so I ran a 11:45 pace.  After the first 10 minutes, I started to feel better so I changed by pace to 11:20 (or something close to that) for the rest of the run.

And for the record I am TERRIBLE at laser tag.

Lot's of sleeping in!  I love sleeping in!!!

I figured it would be a good day to take a running break and do a little cross-training instead, so I rode the bike for 35-minutes.  It is BITTER cold here today (-19 with the windchill).  So much for getting to ever run outside again.

Okay, that was a bit melodramatic.  I'll be in Orlando Tuesday through Friday (work, nothing fun), so I should be able to run outside there.  Maybe I can get Mickey and the gang to join me?

Rest day.  Good thing, too.  The current temperature is 8 F. 

Arrived in Orlando today...with a nasty head cold I developed last night.  I cannot hear out of my left ear, even 6 hours after landing.  My left ear just needs to 'un-pop'.

I attempted to run outside, but the monsoon-like rain fall and tornado warning made me decide that running inside was probably a better option.

Interval running: 10 minutes at 11:20 pace, 10 minutes at 10:50 pace, and 10 minutes at 11:20 pace again.  Cool down jog to finish.  Breathing was a little more difficult, but I finished feeling pretty well. 

Overcast and cool in "sunny" Florida.  I was able to run outside, thankfully, though.  Hotel gave me a 3-mile route to run.  I tried to do my race pace, but I'm still feeling crappy, so about half-way through I had to slow down to an 'easy' run pace.  I forgto to look at my time before I left, so I don't know how long it took me to finish overall.  I did feel good at the finish, so I'm not too worried about it.  I was just glad I could finish!

Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny so I might try the run one more time.

My cold is not getting much better, but at least it was bright and sunny in Florida today.  I decided I should not push it too much and repeated the 3-mile run I did yesterday at an easy pace.  Finished feeling pretty well.  In fact, I thought I might be getting better.  Then about 1.5 hours later my congestion came back with a vengence and my throat really started to get sore.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll be cured.

Ugh.  I've lost my voice today.  Actually, I sound like a teeanage boy going through puberty.  It's kind of funny, actually, because not only does my voice crack, but mid-sentence I'll lose my voice altogether.  I have to repeat myself about 3 times to get one full sentence out.

I'm returning to the freezing tundra that is Indiana tonight, so no running for me. 

The Nyquil did not do a very good job last night.  I still do not have my voice back and I feel like my head has grown about 3 or 4 sizes (I'll measure it later).  I'm guessing since I can no longer breathe without my mouth wide open that running is not in my best interests.  This is actually quite frustrating.

Maybe tomorrow???

Could not sleep at all.  Woke up at 5 a.m. and took a dose of Nyquil.  Helped a bit since it allowed me to sleep in until 10:30 a.m.  My voice sounds like I smoked a case of Marlboro's in one sitting.

Enough is enough, I went to the doctor and I have some form of an -itis.  I've been given some drugs and hopefully will be feeling human again tomorrow.

No running today because of class.  I'm starting to feel a little bit better, which means the drugs are working...thank goodness!

This is the 4th day of no running...I need to run!!!

Stayed up too late last night and now I'm very sleepy.  I have my voice back and the congestion is tolerable now, so I figure I'm well enough to start running again.

Ran 3 miles at 11:19 pace.  I thought about going faster, but since I still have some congestion and a sore throat, I determined it would be best to take it easy the first day back.  I finished feeling pretty good, but tired.  I pray I get a full night of sleep tonight...I'll keep you posted.

My run was cut short today because I was duped into going to a seminar on "how to work your abs properly".  Good news is apparently I have excellent form according to the trainer leading the seminar.  Kim, the evil friend who tricked me into going to this class, has much to work on.  This is excellent validation that I am right and she is wrong.

On to more pertinent info, I ran intervals of 4 min. at a 10:20 pace, 2 min jog.  I was able to get four intervals in (I was supposed to five), but that 10:20 pace is much faster than I'm used to running.  I do not know how any of you do your 6 and 7 minute paces.  I'm pretty sure my legs would fall off.

45 minute slow run today.  I wasn't really in the mood to do this run, but I finished none-the-less and felt better for it at the end. 

I ran on my gym's broken treadmill.  This treadmill is good for impressing others about one's running ability.  Why?  Well, according to this treadmill I was running a 8:34 pace!  This treadmill does not properly monitor actual speed and always says you are doing a pace ~ 4 minutes faster than your actual pace...it's great :)

Strength training day.  Too bad today wasn't a long run day because I could have used a more exhausting outlet for the frustrations that are my job.  I once had a boss that said "anger is a gift, and at my job everyday is like Christmas!".  I love that quote.

Anyway, I did a full body weight workout including the new ab workout I was forced to learn on Wednesday when the most evil friend in the world made me go to an ab training class (she fortunately redeemed herself by taking me out for chocolate martini's this evening).  My muscles should be nice and sore for tomorrow's run...

I LOVE sleeping in!

Today was 30 minutes at my race pace.  Well, I felt really good at the start of the run, but about 15 minutes in, I wasn't feeling so great about it (I blame last night's chocolate martinis).  I was able to push myself to the 27-minute mark before I had to slow down a bit.  I finished, but I was glad to be done.  I'm beginning to fear that I will not be able to achieve my goal pace.  Right now I'm in the mind set that I just need to finish this 10K race (end of March) well, and that I will just have to train for another 10K to achieve my goal pace.  No hurry, right?

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warmer (i.e. 35 F), so I am going to run my scheduled 60-minute run outside.  I'm looking forward to the outside part...the 60-minutes not so much.

And, eventhough this is totally unrelated, I must tell everyone that today I found out my best-friend is pregnant with her first child!  So congratulations to Jen and her husband, Craig! 

Today was the 60-minute run.  I can't say I was looking forward to it, but I got into it pretty quick.  I planned on doing an slow, easy run, so I only plotted out a 5 mile course since on the treadmill my slow easy runs are ~11:30 pace.  Apparently my slow, easy runs outside are closer to a 10-minute pace because I ended up finishing 5.7 miles. 

Muscles were feeling it towards the end, and in the last 10-minutes my knee (previously injured skiing) was NOT happy.  A little bit of swelling, but tomorrow is a rest day, so that should help it out a bit.

Running weather: 35 F and mostly sunny. 

No running today...except for my nose.  I look like Rudolph and my garbage can is over-flowing with used kleenex.

Let me just tell you that Puffs w/ Vicks is the best invention ever.  They actually allow you a momentary respite from nasal suffocations.  If it didn't look so ridiculous, I'd shove one up my nose and leave it there until the Vicks wore off.

Ugh.  I have been sick the past few days.  And sick enough that I can't run.  Stupid sinus infection...who knew your sinuses could be this much trouble???

No running tonight, either.  My head is so clogged up that I get dizzy when I stand up too long.  Really quite pathetic. 

The doctor prescribed me drugs, but in my professional opinion they are not working fast enough.  Maybe this weekend will be good for a run...we'll see.

Yikes!  I've been out of commission for too long...

Okay, today I did a 45-minute easy run.  I'm not sure my body was ready to do 45-minutes after such a long break, but I got it done.  I had some help from Karen...Kim, however, was anything but.  She's just jealous because she can't run as well as I can :)

Speed intervals today.  I did four (4) 400's with a recovery in between each.  I'm not sure what each interval pace was because Kim made me use the broken treadmill (because she's mean).  However, I did my first 400 at race pace, my second one faster, the third even faster, and the 4th was the fastest.  The fourth one was pretty hard, but I felt good afterwards.  Finished with a 6-minute cool down.

Oh, yes, and today was an abs day.  My partners are still doing their abs too fast.  One of my partners is just doing the entire workout completely wrong.  It's embarassing, really. 

Strength training today.  But a lazy one.  I did upper and lower, but I wasn't really feeling it.  You'd think with the number of jelly beans I've consumed today that I would have the energy of a room full of hyperactive 3-year olds, but alas I did not.  I guess something is better than nothing, right?

By the way, I highly recommend the new Nerd jellybeans.  They have a Nerds candy coating on the outside and are really, really tasty.  Ridiculously tasty in fact.

45-minute run today.  I'm pretty sure it was the longest 45 minutes of my entire life.  Ugh, this run was HORRIBLE.  I'll give Kim (Zippy) credit for trying to keep me motivated, even when I was getting cranky. She also gets credit for putting my show on her treadmill TV so I could watch (my treadmill TV was broken).

 Brion threatened to depants me if I stopped, and I think he might have done it, so I'll have to give him some credit for keeping me motivated as well.

I think I earned an extra-large chocolate milk shake after this run.  Too bad I'm too lazy to go and get one.

I love sleeping in :)

Today was the dreaded 7-mile run.  It is not as dreaded as the 8-mile run I have coming up (next week, I think), but dreaded all the same.

I started my run at 8 a.m. under a bright sunny sky and a luxurious 17 F temperature.  I finished the 7 miles in 1:15:00 (a 10:42 pace).  I was hoping I could get a 10:30 pace, but my legs apparently did not share this same goal.  My ankle joints started to ache towards the end, but my knees held up really well this time.  Good job to my knees!  When I finished and started my cool-down walk I'm pretty sure my legs were trying to separate themselves from my body (a sort of coup) because my hips started to ache, and I'm pretty sure I was walking funny.

A long-hot shower later, everything seems to be back to normal, and I think my legs decided to stay attached after all.  In a few hours I will be leaving for my ski (actually, snowboarding) trip in Salt Lake City.  Sorry, no running until Wednesday, but I'll try to update this blog with ski reports.

I love vacations as much as I love sleeping in :)

Snowboarding is IMPOSSIBLE!!!  But, still fun.  I am in no way in possession of any natural talent towards this skill, but thanks to the private instructor, I can now make it down the easy hills with relative comfort, but I'm not so good at switching from 'toe-side' to 'heel-side'.  If you don't snowboard, this doesn't make sense, if you do, then you understand that this is not the easiest way to go down a hill.

Oh, I should probably mention that today we went to Snow Bird. 

On the running front, my hips and my bad knee are sore from yesterday's 7-mile run (my knee more than my hips).  While I did not run today, my legs (quads and calves, especially) got quite a workout, so I think it evens out ;)

I definitely slept well last night.  I thought my legs would be in agony after yesterday, but apparently all this running has proven useful towards surviving snowboarding.  My arms are a bit sore from some of my more spectacular falls, and my ever-faithful bad knee is especially bothersome today.  A wiser person would probably take it easier today, but I've never been accused of being all that wise.

Today we went to Solitude because (1) less-crowded than most slopes, and (2) has a great beginner hill (according to the instructor from Snow Bird).  The beginner hill really was great...I, however, was not.  It's amazing how much you forget when you don't have an instructor correcting your every move.   I am still unable to switch from toe-side to heel-side, but it is obvious that is mostly out of fear of slamming head first (I think I got my fill of that yesterday).  So, I gave my quads a most-amazing workout today!

My knee has finally said "enough", so I think today will be my final day of snowboarding and tomorrow will be a day of relaxation. 

And n0, Kim, I have not done my ab workout, and I don't really intend to do one while on this vacation. 

Returned from my vacation today...let's all have a moment of silence to mourn the end of a great vacation...

My body continues to ache everywhere, so what better excuse to go for a run?  According to today's schedule I had a 45-minute hill run.  So, I went to a horrible little hill that is practically perpendicular to the road and ran up it 5 times.  After the 3rd time it occurred to me that I was not going to be able to run up and down this stupid hill for 45-minutes solid, so after the 5th agonizing ascent, I decided to run a neighborhood circuit that would allow my legs a moment of peace.  I was hoping I had picked a long enough circuit to only have to do that evil, leg-hating hill only once more, but alas, the hill was more clever than I and I was forced to trudge up that murderous thing two more times.

I am planning to destroy that hill one day.

I survived, and my body felt better for a brief few minutes before it remembered the tortures of snowboarding.  My knee was especially annoyed with the run and is plotting its revenge even now as I type this message.

Well, my knee is revolting against yesterday's run.  I limp around and look like I have adopted a really bad remake of John Wayne's strut.  Sort of like Nathan Lane's version of John Wayne's strut in the movie Birdcage...truly ridiculous.  So, I decided to forgo the 45-minute recovery run in favor of a 45-minute bike ride.

After 25-minutes the pain was pretty sharp and I stopped.  Very annoying.  I suspect I will have to take Friday off.  Climibing a ladder all evening to paint the living room in our new house (we move in on Saturday) was probably not helping the knee situation, but at least our new living room looks nice :)

AARRRGGGHHH!!!!

My stupid knee is in constant pain!  I tried wearing my brace this weekend and didn't run at all, but it still hurts.  I'm less than 2 weeks away from my race...I need a MIRACLE!

Or I need my doctor to tell me it's okay to keep running.  I had to finally make an appointment (it's on Thursday) to figure out what's going on.  This is really killing my mileage reports...and my normal cheery disposition. 

I'll keep you posted on what the doctor says.

32-min treadmill run. 

I've had better runs and my knee has had better days.

Today I went to the doctor to figure out what was wrong with my knee.  The diagnosis, a torn meniscus.  The doctor did say, fortunately, that I can continue running and can still run in the 10K I've been training for next weekend (he said it will be an issue of how much pain I can tolerate...additional injury is unlikely).  Whew!  Of course when I finish the race I"m supposed to go back for an MRI and possible surgery.  But we'll deal with that on a later blog date.

Because of all the poking and prodding done to my knee it was still quite painful at the time of my workout so I opted to do 30-min on the elliptical and save a run for tomorrow.

I finished, with minimal pain.  The pain actually seems worse once I stop, so as long as I don't stop during the race, my knee should be fine!

Ran 4 miles outside.  Weather report: 36 F, winds 18-24 mph.  That wind felt like I had a tornado running with me the entire time.  I didn't mind the first 2 miles since it was at my back and helped me increase my pace, but the last 2 miles were a bit annoying since the wind seemed quite determined to push me backwards. 

So, the knee.  It did its usual burning sensation, and it became obvious that my running gait is off since I have a knot the size of a grapefruit in my right calf (left knee is the bad one).  So, I am currently sitting here with ice on my knee and a heating pad on my calf.  I look absolutely pathetic.  It wouldn't be so bad if I was EIGHTY YEARS OLD! 

Tomorrow I'll lift weights (upper body only) and Sunday I'm going to try a hill run (only gentle graded hills, none of those perpendicular ones).  The race route I'll be running in has at least 2 decent sized hills, so I want to make sure I am prepared.

Happy Easter!  And congratulations to all Lent participants for surviving these short 40 days.  Hopefully your post-Lent binges do not leave you with any unplesaent side-effects

I actually  thought I had mapped out a 6.2 mile run, but no luck.  I missed a street in the route...I'm an idiot.  I completed a 6-mile run (30F, no wind, not bad at all, really) with a total running time of 66 minutes.  Slower than the 10-minute pace I had on Saturday, but I'm going to blame Friday's 4-mile run for the slower pace.  Oh, my stupid knee as well.

I intentionally picked a route with hils in it to see how the bad knee would respond.  It did okay for the first 3.5 miles, and then it was nice enough to let me know it didn't want to run anymore.  I pushed through and finished the run, but it was obvious I had slowed down (I really tried not to).  And I'm still compensating because that grapefruit sized knot is back in my right calf.  Actually, its only the size of a small orange this time...hopefully by race day (7-days) it will only become grape-sized.

 No more outdoor long runs until the race.  May try a short one or two, but more likely that I will stick to cushioned treadmills, ellipticals, and possibly bikes. 

By the way, my NCAA bracket is a terrible mess thanks to Clemson, Duke, UConn, and G'Town.  What were these teams thinking?!?!?

I ran 3 miles on the treadmill today.  I ran a slower 11:19 pace to take it easy on the bum-knee.  I have to admit that my knee was pretty sore today and it may or may not have had something to do with my super-cute brown heels.  But, in the name of fashion decency, and how well these shoes go with the skirt I was wearing, the heel wearing was completely unavoidable.  Perhaps I will puruse my closet tonight to find an outfit that might lend itself to cute, yet comfortable, no-heeled shoes.  I'll keep you posted on my findings.

This is my last distance run until the race since (1) that is what my training schedule dictates and (2) Zippy may start using more forceful methods to get me to slow down.  Zippy is quite an unstable person for those of you lucky enough to have never had to deal with her.  Tomorrow I'll cross-train and Thursday I will do a short 1-mile or 15-minute run (I'll officially decide later).  Friday we are flying to Austin, and I will be eating  my way through the weekend until race day! 

Rode the bike today.  The knee was not liking the experience and I was only able to complete 30-minutes. 

Fear not, however, my evil workout partners still made me do an ab workout.  Too bad the abs and the knees aren't connected in some wierd way for me to justify skipping the excercise altogether.  

Short 15-minute run today.  And my knee felt pretty good.  I was able to increase my pace every 5-minutes without any pain.  Even after the workout it felt pretty good.  Maybe it will continue to feel great and my race on Sunday will be perfect!  Here's hoping for the best...

We fly to Austin tomorrow.  My next entry will be my 10K race results.  Wish me luck!

Well, today was the big race.  The race started off humid and sticky, followed by rain.  I was soaked about 5 minutes after the start.  And, as if breathing in humid weather was not bad enough, the rain made the race route a slippery mess.  Less than ideal conditions...but who cares, it was still fun!

I started the race really well, fell right into my pace and felt great.  Even my knee was cooperating, that is, until the hills started.  This race had quite a few hills, and each hill seemed to be a little more steep than the next.  The steepest hill in the route resided around the 3-mile mark and this one finally claimed my knee.  It was steep and long and my knee tolerated it about half-way before siezing up.  So, I unfortunately had to hobble up to the top of the hill before resuming my run.  However, once I made it past that, I was able to finish the run.

I really wanted to finish the race as close to 60-minutes as possible, but, alas, I will have to wait until the next 10K for that.  My race time was 68 minutes, a new personal best, but I am a little disappointed that I didn't hit my goal.

I have to give my husband a super-big thank you for running the last mile with me.  I was in quite a bit of pain at the end and he did a good job of keeping my mind off of it.  The EMT's at the first aid tent were super nice, too, in that they helped move me to the first aid tent, iced my knee, and gave me water and gatorade.  All-in-all it was still a lot of fun!