Wednesday, October 25, 2006

No, Run Faster!

Samo's running team is hosting this year's USA Track & Field National Club Cross Country Championships this year, on December 9th. She'll be competing in the Open Women's 6 km race, but there is also a Community 6 km race earlier in the day which I'll probably compete in.

I was pretty disappointed in my performance in last month's race; 9:48 minutes per mile? I know I can move faster than that. So does Samo. But instead of really training I've been mostly just running from time to time, and lately not much at all.

So today Samo put me through a real training workout, and it felt fantastic.

0.75 mile warm up at 10 minute miles (6 mph)
0.25 mile at 8:34-8:13 minutes per mile pace (7.0-7.3 mph) x 5 with 0.25 mile recovery in between
0.50 mile cool down

She pushed me, but not too hard, and I pushed myself, and it felt good to be done more than just "putting in my time." 7.3 miles per hour felt good; my legs and lungs felt reasonably comfortable. The last lap was hard, but if I had really needed to I could have done at least one more, so I wasn't completely spent.

Samo says she thinks I can run 8:40 minute miles on December 9th. We'll see. 9 minute miles would be just fine. :)

Maybe, someday, I'll be able to keep up with Mack.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Solidarity (Take 2)

Last year I decided to forgo NaNoWriMo in favor of staying in shape. I pledged instead to exercise for 50,000 seconds in November (50,000 seconds = 833.33 minutes = 13.89 hours = 28 minutes a day) as a sign of solidarity with my NaNoWriMoing friends. I succeeded in making that goal, and almost all of them succeeded in their NaNoWriMo goals. Yay!

This year I'm aiming a little higher. No, not at NaNoWriMo. I'm pretty sure I still don't have the time. But instead, I pledge this: I will earn a Presidential Champions Silver Award by the end of November.

"Presidential Champion?" you say. Well, back in June (when I used to read this blog), I read a blog entry about The President's Challenge. Just like the blogger I am very goal oriented, so I decided to sign up, log my activity (as if I don't track enough things in enough places already), and see what happened. You log activities to earn points (basically 1 point = 1 calorie burned), and earn points to earn awards.

Since the middle of June I've earned almost exactly a Bronze Award (just 197 points shy). If I pick up the pace and workout rigorously for two months, I can earn 25,000 more points to get a Silver Award. That's about 400 calories a day; rigorous, but doable. Just like NaNoWriMo.

Running good, eating bad

Run run run. Running run run.

I ran for 40 minutes (3.2 miles) on Sunday, leaving M sleeping in bed again. This time he had his running gear, but was too tired. I ran, showered, ate breakfast, drank coffee, caught up on email, and left to go help a friend move before he woke up.

You might notice that I ran even slower this time than last. That's because I ran EVEN STEEPER hills this time. It wasn't on purpose; I was multitasking. I used a store I had to run an errand (ha ha! get it?) at as the halfway point, and it just so happened that this big massive kill-me hill stood in my way. Yes, those are stairs in the sidewalk. (No, that's not my picture.)

I should challenge Samo to a San Francisco hilly long run in a few months. :)

However, I've been eating like a stuffed pig. I worked out a lot last week, played an hour and a half of broomball on Friday, helped a few friends move on Sunday... I worked up quite an appetite, and I ate every calorie I could get my hands on. Boo. Boo!

My weight has been down up and down this month. I keep telling myself to eat well, and it keeps not working. Nope, not working at all.