Day 12C--running

I didn't run yesterday or Tuesday. This was not because of laziness, but because I don't want to over-train. The standard rule is that you only want to add 10% to your total miles each week. I'm probably going to exceed that with a short run today and a longer run on Saturday, but didn't want to double last week's numbers with a run Tuesday or Wednesday.
I do plan on running a little bit today, probably just a mile, maybe more. I'm hoping to run it in 10:00 or less, back to a pace that I had last year. I know I can't maintain that pace for more than one mile right now, but I think I could do it for one mile.
I'm getting closer on my fund raising goal. I'm at $550 of the $1,000 minimum needed. It's been 12 days since my first donation; at this pace, I should be good to go in another 10 days. I would really like to be safe in my fund raising before I begin the official training. I won't stop mentioning my run and asking for donations, but I won't be stressing about that any more.

Day 11C--Heart Rate

I've been wearing my heart rate monitor when I've been running, but haven't really known which zone in which I'm training. My average heart rate during my two treadmill runs was 146, which is just over 80% of my Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) of 181. However, that doesn't seem to be enough math to figure this out. I first need to know my Resting Heart Rate (RHR) to calculate. I will try to get that number tonight or tomorrow so I can know what zones I'm in when training. I'm hoping I'm somewhere below the anaerobic zone so I can burn more fat. I know this much math will have many people wondering if it's necessary or if I should bother. It may not matter or be necessary, but I'd rather focus on the numbers like this than on my fund raising or mileage numbers. For a math focused person with some OCD, finding a new number and calculation to understand is great.
[(MHR-RHR)*.60]+RHR=lower end of recovery zone or a rate of 135.8
[(MHR-RHR)*.70]+RHR=lower end of aerobic zone or a rate of 147.1
[(MHR-RHR)*.80]+RHR=lower end of anaerobic zone or a rate of 158.4

Update 4/1/11: My RHR is 68, which means that my runs with an average heart rate of 146 aren't strenuous enough to really burn much fat. I guess I better start picking up the pace or the distance to lose some weight.

Inspiring person #3

Dick Hoyt. He's been running marathons and competing in triathlons since 1977, when he was 37. He doesn't just carry his own weight in these races, but also his son, who has cerebral palsy. His times and the amount of racing that he still does at the age of 70 are almost unbelievable. Every one of these times is pushing, pulling or carrying his son. If he can do this, I can run 26.2 miles.

Inspiring person #2

Kelly Gneiting, a 400-pound sumo wrestler, the heaviest man to complete a marathon, after finishing on Sunday in 9 hours 48 minutes 52 seconds. He can also do more 25 push-ups, which is double the number of push-ups than I can. If he can finish 26.2 miles, I sure as heck can.

Inspiring person #1

Ernestine Shepherd, a 73-year-old bodybuilder from Baltimore, Maryland. She started working out at age 60. Now she runs 80 miles a week, bench-presses 150 pounds, does bicep curls with 20-pound dumbbells.
I'm not running anywhere near 80 miles per week, but if she can do it, I sure as heck can run 26.2 miles.

Day 10C--extras

I found this a few weeks back. Despite its beauty, it's horrible. Please help me destroy it and help people who are living with it.

Day 10C--Goal Hit

I ran my four miles on the treadmill yesterday and did it in 44 minutes. That's an 11:00 pace, which is the best pace I've managed this year. It's also the longest distance I've ever run at one time. I actually kept the pace the same throughout most of my run. I finished the first half just shy of 22 minutes and the third mile right around 32 minutes. That was my fastest mile, but not by a huge margin.
I do hope to get in a short run or two this week, but don't want to push myself too hard, too fast. I feel great today, even though I pushed hard yesterday, but don't want to push so hard that I injure myself. I'm not sore at all and feel like the running is already improving my posture. I have been working on my core muscles a bit, too. I did a plank this weekend and held it for 42 seconds, even though the dogs kept running into me. I'm hoping to increase my plank on my non-running days. I've been reading that improving core strength can improve running speeds.

Day 9C--Treadmills

After some consultation with runners, I've decided to mainly work on increasing my distance before I start my official marathon training. I was told to shoot for being able to run between 6-8 miles before April 30th. That means I need to increase my maximum distance by 5 miles over the next 5 weeks. That makes goal setting fairly easy. I will try to run 4 miles this afternoon on the treadmills. Instead of the 5.4 mph pace I ran last week, I will set the treadmill at 5.5 mph. It's not much faster, but I do want to increase my speed a bit, while still increasing my distance. Plus, if I don't increase my speed a bit while increasing my distance, my runs will be taking hours and hours. At 5.5 mph, 4 miles will take me about 45 minutes. That means I won't get home from work until 6:15-6:30, an hour or so after I normally get home. If I can hit both of those goals today, I can do some shorter runs later this week and work on speeding them up.

Day 8C--recovery

I didn't run at all yesterday. I'm still recovering from Wednesday's run. I keep putting Neosporin on my chafing injuries, but they still hurt, especially when I get soap in them. I wasn't sore or stiff at all yesterday, but I am today. My right hamstring is really tight and feels like it wants to cramp up. I hope I can get a run in tomorrow morning before the games begin.
I've been thinking about Elizabeth Taylor a lot the last few days. It's been hard to avoid all the news and pictures. I always loved her; she was beautiful and talented. Also admired her tenacity. She lost her husband in a plane crash, had tons of personal illness and lost a dear friend to AIDS. Her dedication to AIDS was early and unending. That became her passion, and keeping that in mind has been pushing me to ask for donations to my race, even though I hate doing that.
Sort of related to that, I want the dress she's wearing in this photo. I may hire my seamstress friends to make it for me as a prize for finishing the marathon.

Day 7C--Treadmill

Just as I had planned, I used the treadmills after work and ran a full 5K. I did pack some running clothes, but forgot my sports bra. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though. I may question that decision next time. I have some injuries suffered because of not wearing the proper equipment. I have some chafing on my arm and sides where my bra rubbed. I put some Neosporin on it today in the hopes that will help it heal. I may buy some diaper rash cream at lunch to see if that helps, too.
On the bright side, I ran 3.1 miles in 34:28 minutes, which is an 11:07 mile pace. That's my best pace this year and my longest distance since last summer. It's only two minutes slower than my race time last June, and better than my first 5K last April. I feel ok today, thanks to Jenni reminding me to take some Advil before bed last night. I was already starting to stiffen up and would have been in a bit of pain today without that.
On another good note, my fund raising is rolling along steadily. I'm at $300, or 30% of the minimum needed to guarantee my race entry. I'm trying to get some Twitter people with more followers to tweet my fund raising page, but no luck yet. I did have a friend post it on her facebook page, though.

Day 6C--Cold & Rain

I didn't run yesterday because it was cold & raining. The weather is equally bad today, but I brought running clothes to work, so I can use the dreaded treadmills. I don't totally hate treadmills, but they're not as enjoyable as running outside on the sidewalks. Treadmills help me with my pacing and speed, something I have a hard time with on sidewalks. I'm hoping that I can get in a full 5K tonight, regardless of my time. I feel like I need to start increasing my endurance a bit, with only 200 days until the marathon. I don't have any concrete reason for that feeling, just some fear that I won't be ready for the official training and thus the marathon. Now that I read it, 200 days seems like a really long way off.
My fund raising has stepped up a bit. I had raised about $85 when I went to bed last night and I'm now at $245. That's about 25% to my minimum to guarantee me a spot in the marathon and 16% of my goal. I don't like fund raising for the same reasons I don't like sales or collections. I don't like asking people for money or favors, and this combines both of them into one task. My efforts so far have been pretty passive; I've tweeted about the run and posted it as my facebook status. I've updated my avatars with T2EA images, my twitter profile with the donation link and made updates to my blog. The most active step I've taken is to create a note on facebook and tag people in it. I know I will have to be more active, but have four months to work up to that.

Day 5C--Running

I ran my cemetery route twice tonight. The first time I ran it was with both of my dogs. That took us over 17 minutes because of all the stopping, sniffing and pooping. I don't think I'll be running with both dogs very often. It wasn't horrible, but it was difficult.
I ran the second route right after coming home and putting the dogs back in their crates. This time it only took me 12:20, which is 5.69 mph or a 4 hour 36 minute marathon. I don't have a time goal for the marathon yet, but I am starting to think of what that time might be. Just like with my first 5K last year, I think I'll set an attainable time cap and just aim to finish.

Day 4C--Running

I ran the same near cemetery route that I ran the other night, but this time I brought along Maddow. That did keep me from noticing my running time or how I felt. It also kept me from noticing that I had the wrong shoes on. I was at the halfway mark before I noticed I was wearing my backyard dog poo shoes and not my running shoes. Because I run a route that takes me around a cemetery, there's no way to cut back and return home in a shorter distance, so I just kept running. My knees did feel a bit weird when I was done, but not too bad, nothing like I would have expected.
Other than keeping me distracted, Maddow slowed me down. The run took almost a full minute longer than it took me on Wednesday. I felt better when I was done, and didn't cough at all, but know that I need to get faster. I think Maddow will get faster, once she gets used to her Gentle Leader. No, that's not her in the picture; she's still fighting it too much to get a decent photo of her in it.

Day 3C-Recovery

I spent yesterday recovering from my short run on Wednesday. My throat hurt from coughing during and after the run. My muscles hurt from the run and from the cleaning I've been doing around my office. I'd run today, but have bowling right after work, so I'll get back out there tomorrow. I want to get used to running early on Saturday morning, because that's when my training runs will be held. I do enjoy having a solid goal, and after I get donations, people I'm accountable to for that goal.

Day 2C--Running

It was super beautiful when I got home from work today, so I decided to get out and run. That was my first run in about seven months, and my body let me know that's a long, long time. I ran around the closer cemetery, which is about 1.17 miles. I'm glad I didn't try to tackle the farther cemetery which is 3.1 miles.

My speed was crap, but it gives me a good baseline. I ran 1.17 miles in 13.39 minutes, which is 5.25 mph. That would convert to a five hour marathon. I am really looking forward to improving that time, and being able to run longer than 1.17 miles.

Day 1C--Goal

I signed up to run the Bank of America Chicago Marathon for charity. I will be raising at least $1,000.00 for the Team to End AIDS I don't start official training until April 30th, but need to start doing some running so I'm not totally out of it when I do begin. Tomorrow is my first meeting with my charity, so I should have a better idea of where I need to be, and what the training entails. Thursday is supposed to be warmer, so I'm hoping to get some running in, even if it's only a mile.