Muscles You Didn't Know You Had

So I didn't do my strength training today...but I did do a very enlightening short run this morning.  I've reached the point in running where a "short run" is any run under an hour and is usually between 5 and 6.5 miles.  

Last night I set my alarm for 5:05am and told myself, as usual, that I didn't really have to get up then if I felt too tired.  But I've kind of been getting excited about my morning runs and so I find myself waking up periodically in the middle of the night, anxious to get out the door and on the pavement.  When my alarm went off this morning, I actually thought to myself, "YES!  Time to RUN!"  I don't think I've ever done that before - I kind of surprised myself.  Usually I sit in bed for a while and convince myself that the bragging rights coming with getting up at 5am and running are worth it.  

This has been the most miles I've logged in a week for a long time - about 31, if I don't run tomorrow.  It doesn't seem like a really impressive number to me until I realize that I've done it in only 3 days of running.  With a 14 mile run on Sunday, a double run on Wednesday resulting in a 12 mile day and a 5 mile run this morning, I've done more than I thought I could.  

Tomorrow I'm moving into a new house, across the city.  I'm a little nervous about my running habits, since it's a different neighborhood (read: not as nice) and so I've determined that I should get on the metro and ride out a few stops to start my run.  Which will require even more dedication on my part.  I don't know how well I'll do on the metro at 5am (does it even open that early?).  I'll have to see how I can work this out.  My morning runs might have to end temporarily until I can work this out.  Oh well - I guess this will just be another challenge.  

Anyway, this morning I was running and I realized that my quads were really sore.  If you read my last post, you probably noticed that my body yells at me a lot (shrieking calves, etc).  Well, my quads were kind of just chit-chatting with each other this morning, not really yelling, not really in pain, just incredibly sore.  With every pound on the pavement, I felt them asking each other, "why is she doing this to us?"  I could feel the muscles wrapped around my legs and it really made me realize how connected our bodies are.  I should probably learn more about muscles and how our bodies respond to the physical challenges we present to them.  I should also probably start stretching before I run...

Yep, faithful reader, I don't stretch before I run.  I'm trying to remember the last time I voluntarily stretched when I did an individual run and I um...cannot remember for the life of me.  I've done Pilates and classes like that, so I kind of assumed that as long as I was stretching at some point, I was doing okay.  The other day, though, I browsed Runner's World online and was dismayed to read that runners should do yoga.

I hate yoga.  I am not flexible at all (probably because I don't stretch and my muscles are incredibly tight) and I cannot stand to be in the same position for more than 2 minutes.  Downward dog is my enemy and I struggle to find serenity because all I can think is - I want to move, move move move MOVE!  I like cycling classes...I like aerobic classes...I like pulsing music and instructors who shout at you to push it harder and I like to sweat and be out of breathe.  Yoga destroys me because it is more challenging than any other class for me - I can't do the poses and when I do finally manage to contort my body into something somewhat similar to what everyone is doing, I can't stand to remain in that position for the required amount of time.  The music and the instructor saying things that are supposedly going to relax my mind and body make me snort and giggle almost uncontrollably, so that I look horribly disrepectful.  It looks like I don't care.  And I try really hard to care, but with names like downward dog and tree...well...it kind of just makes me roll my eyes.

But...if I Runner's World says I should do yoga...if the ENTIRE WORLD has caught on to yoga...if my muscles are so tight that they are chit-chatting as I run and shrieking as I sprint, heck, I'm going to find a yoga class.  Although I might wait until YogaWeek comes back to DC...I mean, after all, what's the point of doing something I hate and paying more than $5 to do it?

Sprints

So I bought a copy of Runner's World the other day and as I was flipping through it, I realized that everyone was talking about sprints and hills and speed workouts.  I'm getting kind of cocky with my running, confident in my ability to run a marathon in under 4 hours.  Now I've managed to convince myself that I can really cut down that time...but that will require sprints. 

I did exactly 2 seasons of track in my whole life.  They tried to make me throw discus (I was so good that I can't even remember how it is spelled...sarcasm there guys), long jump, etc...in the final meet in my senior year of high school (my second and last season of track and field), they set me out on the 2 mile run.  Pretty much they did everything they could to keep me away from sprinting, probably because I'm AWFUL at it.  I blame my inability to run with cheetah-like agility on one simple physical characteristic: I'm short.  I'm 5'4" and not a ton of that is leg.  I mean, I'm not like 3/4 torso and 1/4 leg (that would be odd, where would my head go?), but I don't have long legs.  Also, I think I actually get more bored doing sprints than I do with distance.  How is that possible, you ask?  Because when I do sprints, all I can think about is the fact that my lungs are screaming, my legs are rebelling, and my brain is on repeat with, "Stop it, stop it, stop it, you IDIOT!!!!"  I literally have to talk myself into doing sprints...which is exactly what I did this morning.

I got up at 5am and told myself that I was just going to go back to bed and run this afternoon.  But then I remembered that I had promised myself to do the stairs by the Lincoln Memorial while the sun was rising.

For those of you who never run in the morning, you are missing something spectacular.  I recommend leaving before the sun is out, with just a bit of dusky light to guide your feet.  It's cooler, there's less humidity and there are less people out.  When you come across another person, out on the path, you give each other a little nod.  Morning runners form an elite club and we acknowledge each other's dedication.  But mostly you are free, even in a city like Washington, DC, to look at the trees...run by the Potomac and you may see large water birds walking through the water.  And as you run, the sun starts to rise, washing the sky in pink.  The sunrises in DC are almost always pink, a golden pink that sets the entire horizon aflame.  I get up at 5am not because I don't have any other time to run...I run at 5am because it is the absolute best time of day to run.

But today I had a hard time noticing the sunrise because I was in a great deal more pain that usual.  Ok...so I'm bad at sprints and...I hate them.  I did sets of stairs because reaching the top makes me feel like I've accomplished something.  But after about 6 sets, I started to drop about halfway to the top.  So I decided to jog around to the reflecting pool after 10 sets and sprint up and down one side.

The reflecting pool is a lot bigger than I remembered.

I told myself I'd run to that lamppost, to that next trashcan.  I muttered under my breath, "c'mon, c'mon, let's move, one more sprint, one more, one more is nothing!" but my calves were shrieking and at one point I'm fairly sure I saw black spots before my eyes.  I'm not sure if this will actually help me in a marathon...I'm not sure what good it did me except probably to burn more calories than usual.  But I've decided to incorporate one sprint workout a week in the hopes of beating a 4 hour marathon...and because let's face it: nothing gets my blood going like a painful, intense, over-the-top workout.

Next time (hopefully):  I will discuss strength training.

A New Blog

If you're reading this, you probably know (or could guess) that I'm in training to run my first marathon.  Throughout four years at GWU, I always kind of itched to do the Marine Corps Marathon, easily the biggest marathon run in the DC region.  It's supposed to be a great race - running around the monuments with arguably some of the best energy in supporting crowds.  I'm running with the Run for Vocations team, which is to raise money for seminarians...but more on that later.

I'd like this blog to be more about running, training, what works, what doesn't, running shoes (you know me and shoes!), the right music, running with and without music.

I started running in high school when I joined the tennis team.  Although I thought she was crazy at the time, our coach made us run hills, distance, and do intense strength training before we even started tennis drills.  Then in college, I started off with a semester of rowing, at which I was very bad.  Although I failed miserably at rowing, I could still keep up with the speed training.  A spring break trip to Argentina meant that I quit rowing, but I never quit running.  But I never really did it for anything more than pure enjoyment - stress relief, to stay in shape, etc, etc...then this past March, my friend Julie suggested that we do the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run.  

The thing about running is, once you start, nothing else gives you the same feeling.  It doesn't matter if you go to the gym all day, play frisbee or soccer, go for a bike ride - you still don't feel like you've gotten a work-out unless you've clocked in those miles.  I think there's a stereotype that running can get boring, that it's totally an individual sport, but I've learned that running is more exciting than most sports I've done.  It's great because it IS individual - it's completely up to you, you make or break your time, you're the one who pushes yourself, but at the same time it creates this incredible bond between you and other runners.  Just today, I saw a lady while I was running - I did 14 miles, I'm pretty sure she was struggling to get out 2.  But she gave me the thumbs up, I told her she was looking good, and for the next half mile or so, I was re-energized by that human contact (of course, another great thing about running is that if the world is really pissing you off, you just keep your eyes in front of you and push it away).  

Also, running is NEVER boring.  At times, it's painful.  Sometimes a mile feels like twelve.  But it's never boring.

Hopefully, it'll be un-boring enough for me to actually maintain a blog about it!