Feeling Hot Hot Hot (and Annoyed)

Man, my running route last night was less than desirable. The pros were that I had a wide sidewalk and not many stoplights to slow me down. The cons were much more plentiful. At one point there was construction on both sides of the street, so I was running down the street between moving vehicles and parked vehicles and then an older woman decided she needed to suddenly cross the street and stroll right into my path. Thanks lady, that's just what I was hoping you'd do.

I continued running and then got to 2 blocks of just trash. I need to bring my camera on a run sometime just to take pictures of all the random junk on the ground--huge empty bottles of vodka, random pedals from bicycles, some rubber cords and then your typical trash. Gross. City-living and running at its finest in Philly.

It was also really hot last night, and I am still adjusting to running in heat so I was probably angrier than usual at little things that get in my way while running, but I wanted to scream when this couple ahead of me proceeded to take up the entire sidewalk. Luckily, since they were slow, my pace slowed and good ol' Garmin chimed at me to speed up. This chime scared the crap out of these people, and while they were stunned by technology I used that opportunity to speed past them. But seriously people, I don't care if you're walking or running--share the sidewalk. You don't need the whole thing. Trust me.

Dancing Is a Form of Cross-Training

Well, maybe dancing isn't quite cross-training, but let's pretend so I can feel extra athletic this week. Now actual dance classes where you sweat it out to some intense moves is indeed legit exercise, but the dance I speak of is ballroom. My fiance and I took our first wedding dance lesson last week and we have two on tap for this week. I truly have no idea how to dance with another person. I can manage on my own, but put someone else's hands in mine and I'm lost.

So in an effort to have our wedding not feel like a middle school dance (anyone else do the 7th grade sway--hands barely touching partner and rocking back and forth?), we are learning the rumba, hustle, swing and something I forget. And we have finally chosen our first dance song!

Tonight I've got to hit a dance lesson at 5:30 and then run 4 miles since my trip to Atlanta this weekend really threw off my running schedule.

Running, running, running

So I haven't  blogged much lately and that usually means I haven't been running, but not this time! I've been trucking along--4 miles on Saturday, 5 miles on Sunday and 3 miles yesterday. I've also got 3 miles on tap for tonight and then 4 on Thursday. I don't usually like to stack so many runs in a row, but I'm going to be visiting my sister in Atlanta this weekend so I don't want to have to worry about getting a run in while I'm there. Plus I'm not quite prepared to run in 80 degrees and lots of humidity yet. I still have about 3-4 weeks of normal temps before summer hits Philadelphia.

Speedwork, Kinda

I was reading a guest post on Lauren's Team Giles blog yesterday by Jessica at Racing to Thirty and was really inspired by how she pushed herself to do those speed workouts and how it really paid off for her. So I thought that with the 3-miler I had on tap for Tuesday I would attempt to do the same. I warmed up for a mile and pushed for a mile and cooled down for another. It wasn't easy--I was definitely panting like a dog,  but my overall pace for the "fast" mile was 10:35. I know that's a slow, easy run for more experienced runners, but I generally run an 11/11:30 minute mile, so it felt faster for me. Plus I was running a sub-10 pace for part of that mile, but I'm not sure how far (I really don't know how to use my Garmin. I just figured out last night I needed to push "lap" when I finished a mile so I could break my time down. Seriously, if anyone can give me any tips on how to use this thing--please do!)

My other two miles were kinda slow--the warm-up was something like 11:40 and the cooldown was like 11:50 with a bit of walking thrown into both of those miles. But I think I'll do it again! I have a tempo run on tap for Thursday (which will actually be Friday because my fiance is graduating from business school tomorrow so my whole day is pretty tied up).

Oh, and in other news, I did some biking on Monday night. Five miles up and down a bridge that is basically an ascent for a mile and a descent for a mile and then you turn around and come back. I run that bridge and honestly biking it was tougher. Too bad you can't coast uphill:)

New Shoes Needed

Tonight I am planning on going to an actual running store and getting running shoes that are the right fit for me. I'm told I overpronate (I can't see the back of myself, so I can't confirm this), but I do know when I bought my last pair of shoes I selected ones for overpronators and my fiance told me it helped my form. (Why is he always looking at me from behind? Hmmm.)

Anyway, this store comes highly rated from my running fiend co-worker, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully my running will be faster and unfortunately my wallet will be a little lighter in a few hours.

Finally, a Decent Run

I may have had a running epiphany yesterday. After last week’s mediocre runs, I wasn’t too sure how this was going to pan out. I only needed to log 3 miles and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, a light breeze, a little bit of sun. I started out slowly as usual, but then I kinda thought, “I’m just going to run this thing and let it feel natural. If I go out too fast and need to walk, that’s OK.”

Guess what? I didn’t walk and I actually felt better going faster! I honestly think I was expending energy to slow down (if that makes any sense). So I think I did 3 miles in 33 odd minutes, which is not bad considering in the first mile I walked for the first couple of blocks and then also ran that mile slowly. I have to plug in my Garmin for more pace details.

I need to make sure this isn’t a fluke. I’m going to do the same run tonight and see what happens. Am I totally crazy or is it possible that making myself run slow has been the issuing plaguing my progress?