Officially Back in Training

Today was my 2nd day of run training. I am back at it. But to explain how, I first have to back up a bit...

On Saturday, Feb. 28, I went to Sacramento on my own to get this laptop (MacBook) repaired--there was a crack in the casing. While I was there, I went to SportsAuthority, and looked for a sports watch. I needed one in the worst way. I totally scored, and found a brand new UnderArmour training watch. It was normally priced $89, and was marked down to $50. I was so excited; the price was right, and it had all the features I needed. It's pink and it has a chronometer and an interval timer. The chronometer tracks my overall time and the splits (individual laps or segments of sport, such as in a triathlon), up to 75 different splits. The interval timer lets me program run/walk intervals, with an alarm, so I can run a set time and then walk a set time, which is a standard training routine for new runners, or returning runners like me.

So now, we're heading back up to last Tuesday. I took out my new watch, and set it with two intervals: a 2 minute, and a 30 second. That is, I planned to do 2 minutes of running followed by a 30 second walk. I hoped I'd be able to handle that much running, and that I wouldn't have to dial up the walk segment to a minute or even (gasp) time equal to running.

After Karalyn went to baby Gymnastics last week, I dropped her off at child care to "play", which she willingly did in lieu of going home for a nap, and then I hit the treadmill.

I went two miles of run/walk, and walked an additional two after that. It was tough but I did it. I walked the next day, and that was it for the week.

Cue up the music for today...duh duh DUHHH! What would have happened after one single run? I decided to be positive, and so I reset my watch for a 3 minute run, 30 second walk. Once again, after baby Gymnastics, Kara went to play and I hit the treadmill.

Watching the little TV monitor on the treadmill kept me occupied so I didn't dwell on the time. I watched "What Not To Wear," which is a really fun show where people's wardrobes are hijacked, dumped, and then the two hosts give the person $5 grand to buy a new wardrobe, following their suggestions. The lady today had lost a lot of weight but still had the roll around the middle...sort of like me!...and so it was interesting to see what kind of wardrobe they had her choose. She was still a size 18 or so, which I am not any longer--I'm currently a 12, up from my former size 8 in Maine--but it was still interesting.

The time flew by and before I knew it, I had run a 5K. I did 3.2 miles! I was elated! I walked an additional 2 miles, like last week, and then realized that, along with the elation, I felt depressed at the same time.

Depressed? Why?

My pace was pretty much a 12-minute mile pace, or 5 mph. That was my slow-and-easy pace when I ran my 20 miles back in May, and even back then I wasn't doing a 3 minute run and 30 second walk. I was running pretty much the full five miles with a short break and then rehitting another 5, for four loops. My normal easy pace was 10 minute miles for 6 miles at a time (sometimes more, up to 12 miles); my race pace was around a 9 minute mile. And here I was, run/walking a 12 minute mile.

However, the sense of elation returned when I realized that after months of not running, I was able to run/walk a 5K faster than the first ever 5K I walked with Maddy, way back in 2007. I also remembered a post I saw late last night when I was perusing a site called "43 things" that there were a whole lot of people who had as a goal, "Run one mile". And I thought...I just did 3.2, on 2 days' practice.

So I'll take being elated. My training will be to compete in the 12K Bay t0 Breakers race in San Francisco. There is a killer hill early in, and I know I will probably have to walk at least some of that, but I hope to run the rest of it, at least most of the rest of it. That will be about an 8 mile run. I've walked it before, and was wicked sore afterwards, but that was back in 1992 and I was also horribly unfit back then. I have been wanting to do the Bay to Breakers for almost 2 years, now, and now I will have my chance.

I hope to run more this week. We head to Eureka for a family visit this weekend, and I plan to do some running there, too. Hopefully by the time next Tuesday rolls around, I will be able to maybe bump it up to 4 minutes' run, 30 second walk. We'll see.

Either way, I'm back in training! Yay me! :)