Archive for January, 2008
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I had 3 runs this week – nothing much to say though.
I did another 12 miles this weekend – next week’s scheduled long run is 13. It’s kind of fun to see the training runs ahead – I wonder how I will manage to do the really long ones – 18 and 20! That’s not until March, but having never trained for a full marathon before, I’ve never ran that long before. I remember my first 7 mile run when training for my first half – I was nervous I couldn’t do it and surprised that it wasn’t that hard! Of course, 7 miles seems so short now. After 12 miles, my feet hurt a little (like they do after a long day of being on your feet). I wonder how 18 will feel!
My knee is doing pretty well. I’m not feeling pain during the run or after (knock on wood). It gets tight now and then and if I poke around the area I can feel where it’s giving me trouble, but other than that, it hasn’t been stopping me (cross fingers). I have some blisters on my feet, but that came from a long week full of long days wearing heels. I need to remember to change to flats when it gets late, or when I can get away with it at the office.
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Something to Ponder.
I came across this the other day and read some of the comments on the popular debate about what running is all about: http://fitsugar.com/943398. I’m not sure if I have ever referred to my running as jogging. Honestly I don’t refer to anyone’s running as jogging. You are walking or you are running. (I have a high respect for speed walkers as well – have you ever tried it? It’s hard. It requires a lot of muscle…that I don’t have.)
I don’t necessarily think that “jogging” is a lower class activity than running in every day language. It’s just not a word that I ever think to use.
I once looked through a book by Bob Cooper, the Aerobics Program for Total Well-Being, where he defines a jog as a 9 minute mile. I guess I am a jogger by that definition most of the time. I have ran a 10k but I have jogged my other races, or done a mixture of the two, apparently. Bob Cooper’s definition is really useless to me though – if an 8:59 mile is a run, a 9:00 mile is a slightly slower run. For me, it doesn’t matter.
But there are some people out there, that Pearl Izumi is marketing to, for whom it does matter. More and more people like myself are signing up for marathons who physically can’t run a 5:00 minute mile (well I don’t think I can but I’ve never tried…), and who have more than 10% body fat. I’m talking about the position the Salon writer takes: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/11/03/marathon/.
I guess I don’t understand what the big deal is for them. I always like people to finish behind me. I’m glad I don’t have to worry to much about finishing in last place. Middle of the pack is just fine – it’s really me that I’m running against.
And then, there’s this to consider: “I once heard Bingham [The Penguin] at a lecture, recounting a post-marathon dinner he had had with one of The Elite Kenyans. He told it like this:
“He asked me what my time was. I said, ‘five and a half hours.’ He looked at me and said, ‘My God! How can you run for so long?’” -
January 6, 2007
Week’s total mileage: 27.75 miles
- 2 runs during the week
- 2 on the weekend
I’m not altogether thrilled with the first week in the new year. Ideally I’d run every day during the week but I am still battling my will to sleep in the morning. I’ve also found that when I’m particularly stressed out in the morning due to something work-related (major deposition, being swamped, thinking about difficult cases, trials coming up, etc.), I am already awake, but think of more reasons than usual not to run. It’s probably the best time to do it though – I’m alert, and nothing beats stress better than sweating it out right?
In any event, my long run was done this morning – 12 miles. At least I am on track with my long runs so far. I’ve never run farther than 13.1 miles and I’ll be hitting that point in my training very soon. It wasn’t the most pleasant run until the last couple of miles. Not sure why really, but I plugged away and finished.
I have some running related resolutions, so I thought I’d put them down here:
- to finish the marathon (of course)
- to run outdoors more often
- to run in the morning more often. It starts the day off right, and I think it really will be the key to my consistent training
- to never blow off stretching
- to get speedier. I’ve noticed that when I try, the IT band goes crazy. So this one is not a big priority right now.
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My name is Michelle and I like to write about running, food, and fitness in general. Check out my About Michelle section for more!
