A little faster

Yesterday  I was able to catch up with my running partner for an early morning run.  We had so much to catch up on.  I had my vff's on and I new I would be running a little faster than,  I normally  do by myself.  I was anxious to see how my feet would feel when I upped the speed a little bit. They  were feeling a little sore right after the run, but by lunch time they  were feeling great.  

Chief
Mile 1- 10.22                           Mile 4- 10.11
Mile 2- 10.23                           Mile 5- 9.58
Mile 3- 10.01                           Mile 6- 9.44


This morning I wasn't planning  on  running. I was going to give my  feet a little rest, but after my workout with my guy Bob Harper, I was feeling like a little run.  So I  decided to do 3 miles on the treadmill and see if I could speed it up again. I wanted to see how my feet were going to feel after my faster pace yesterday.  Believe it or not my feet were feeling great.   Today started  with 6.0 and continued to go up and down from there. The last half mile kept it  between 7.5 and 7.8  I was tired but it sure felt good. My hamstring and hip are still feeling good.  Got  my 3 miles done in 29 minutes.  Which put my pace at 9.39.

Every time I run with my vff's I'm amazed at how I feel during and after my run.   When I first started running in the vff's my calves were killing me.   When I did my first  6 miles I could barely walk afterwards, my calves hurt so darn bad.  My go to people that I emailed about  running in vff's and questions I had were Angie @ Barefoot Angie Bee and Neil @Because all the cool kids are doing it.   I learned  a lot from them.  It is normal to have some calf soreness, but not to the point where you can barely walk.   For me  I needed to  bend at the knees and  relax my legs. I was amazed how that helped with my calf soreness and it made for a much easier run.   

Feeling it today in my vff's

Since my long run did  not  go so  well yesterday. I'm looking to redeem myself.

 
Weather permitting I was going on another long run, but this time it was going to be in my vff's.  Cold toes or not.   I got all my stuff on and headed to town. I'm thinking I'll do at  least 9 miles in my vff's.  My thoughts were just to take it slow and easy.  To see how my feet were going to feel today.


 The  1st mile I was feeling pretty good, so much easier then yesterdays run  in my running shoes. At mile 3 I'm checking myself to see how my legs  and feet are  feeling.  My  legs are still feeling pretty relaxed and no  pain in my feet.. ( I wish I felt this good every time I ran).  For the first time since last October I was starting to get into a rhythm and it  was feeling  pretty good. I can't say  that I have had much rhythm, due to the lack of running  long distance.  By the time I reached 9 miles, I was already thinking I should push  it to 10.  Yahoo, 10  miles in my vff's.  That is  my  longest run in them so far. 


I'm running   Dam to Dam  in June and it is a  20k.  I've been playing with  what shoes I should wear for a while now..  My running shoes vs  vff's. After today's run I'm looking at running the whole 12.4 miles in my vff's.  So  I better get down to business and keep on pushing it.  I have  2.4 more miles to push it.

I know how I think, so when the race  gets here I  will  probably be second guessing myself.  Can I really run 12.4 miles in my vff's.  I know it is a mental game I  play with myself.  I just hope I don't have a panic attack at the starting line, because I'm stressing out about running Dam to Dam in vff's.

My Chief

Mile 1- 11.10                   Mile 6- 11.07
Mile 2-10.56                    Mile 7- 11.16
Mile 3- 10.50                   Mile 8- 11.10
Mile 4-10.50                    Mile 9-11.25
Mile 5-11.46                    Mile 10- 10.52
              

Just not feeling it.

Got up today and  I new I had to get my long run in, because the weather is not looking good  here for most of the week. We are in a rainy spell.  My training calls for only 10 miles but I'm really wanting to push it to  12 miles. 

 When I started I thought I would wear my running shoes for this long run because I hate when my feet get cold. I new with the vff's my toes would get cold, because it was chill this morning. 

Got all my stuff on and headed to town.   I'm feeling pretty good, not liking the cold but I'm just going to getter done.    The first 3 miles I was trying to pick it up a little. Mainly because  I've been trying to go faster on the treadmill and wanted to see how that would help me on the pavement.  The first 3 miles I was feeling pretty good .  At 5 miles I'm thinking I'm really not feeling this long run today.  By the 6th mile my stomach is rolling and I'm thinking, I freak in need  to find a bathroom.  I hate when that happens. It doesn't happen to me that much so I can't complain.  After the potty break I'm thinking maybe I will just do 9 and call it a day.

 The next 3 miles were tough. I'm stilll  not feeling it. But, darn it I only have 3 more miles to go to reach my goal of 12 miles.   So I   decided to  just keep pushing threw it.  After the 10th  mile my stink en hamstring is killing me and my hip too.   So I decide to stop and put on my vff's for the last 2.2 miles to see if that  would  help with my hamstring and hip.   After about the first half mile my hamstring and hip are feeling  so much better and I was able to get my last 2.2 miles in.  I am slowly becoming a believer of these minimalist shoe.

 I really  need to buy some minimalist shoes that you can wear socks with, so I can  keep on  trucking in my minimalist shoes in cold weather.  I will probably never be a barefoot runner, because I have a fear of getting something in my foot and having to go to the Doc and get it out. I don't think so, I hate needles, especially when it comes to my feet. I do have socks for my vff's but there are like wearing gloves vs mittens.  I need  all of my toes together.



Here is what Chief recorded

Mile 1-  10.21                                                  Mile 7- 12.46
Mile 2-  10.07                                                  Mile 8- 10.32
Mile 3 - 10.00                                                  Mile 9- 10.44
Mile 4 -10.32                                                   Mile 10- 11.13
Mile 5 - 10.23                                                  Mile 11- 11.49
Mile 6 - 11.14                                                  Mile 12- 11.32



   Anyone know of some good minimalist shoes that you can wear socks with and all my toes are together?

     How are you coming on your transition to minimalist shoes or barefoot running?
                                     

It's my Job & Jelly Bean Virtual Race

Last week I got up early to go the gym and work out like I do most mornings.  Got in 40 minutes weight training and 30 minutes on the elliptical.  When I got up I just felt like I wanted to be color coordinate. So I put on my pink skater socks, pink and black shorts, pink top and I can't leave out my new Bondi Band that's black with pink lettering that says, Run Happy.  Boy, I was feeling pretty stylish.   Sometimes it just makes me feel better if I look more put together on my runs.

So after my workout of course I have to go to Casey's and get my cappucino.  When I got to Casey's their were some FFA kids getting some food  before they had to get on the bus to go to the FFA Convention.  Their was this girl  that my son knows at Casey's and I said hi and told her to have a good time at the convention.  My son is in FFA and was going to the convention to.

Later that night my son comes home and I went downstairs to talk to  him.  I asked him how the convention went and a few other questions. Than I mentioned that I seen mac short for McKenzie.  He goes I know, she told me she liked your pink socks.  I'm thinking Sweet she likes my pink socks.   I'm one hip mom.


 Than my son says to me, do you have to wear those pink socks.  I'm thinking  hell  yes,  I love those pink skater socks.    So than I asked him if I embarrassed him. He's reply was YES. Doesn't he know by now that It's  my Job to embarrass him.

I remember all to well when my mom embarrassed me.  It wasn't anything that she intentionally tried to do. It is just the way I  perceived  it.   So, from on now I will try really hard not to embarrass my son around girls.

I'm doing the Jelly Bean Virtual Race 10k.  Got up this morning to get it done so I  could  cross it off my to do list for this week.  It was a little chilly out and of course the freak in wind was blowing.  I probably could of ran outside but was not feeling like I wanted to put all those extra clothes on . So I opted for the treadmill.  I  tried upping  the mph to go a little faster for so long and than backed  it down a little.  I would say it actually felt good to go a little faster. 

I've been kind of gun shy of the treadmill.  About a month or two ago I was having some issues with my grown area and hamstring. It got to wear it hurt to much to run . Went to a Physical Therapist and she gave me some exercise and I'm doing a lot better.  So, yes baby I'm on the run again.



                                             Have you ever embarrassed your kids?

                                          Are you doing the Jelly Bean Virtual Race?

                                             Have you been dealing with an injury?

Stylish Blogger Award

I've been  tagged by Leah@ChansingAlanta  for the Stylish Blogger Award. 

1.  The tradition  of this award is to tell 7 random things about myself. 

2.  Pay it forward  to other amazing blogs.

1.  I'm scared to death of the dark.  I do a lot of my running before work in the dark.  It's great  running in the mornings when I have a running partner. My partner and I  haven't been able to get together much this year, so I'm running SOLO. When I'm  running by myself  I'm always packing, my pepper spray that is.


2.  I have panic attacks.  Did you know they have  a 12 step program for panic attacks. I went through the program.   I'll always have panic attacks, but now I know how to deal with them better. 

3.  Before I met my husband I was anorexic.  I thought if I was skinny life would be great. But, in reality my life was far from great.  I  would like to thank my husband for being my Saving Grace.

4.  I use to  do this.  I quit cold turkey before I had my children. I know, what a nasty habit.  Do you see pattern with me.  I  had a lot of bad habits.

5.  Seven years ago I weighted 250 lbs.  I don't remember the way I looked, but I remember how I felt. As you can see I have been at both ends of the spectrum, when it comes to weight.

6.  One of my favorite candy bars is Almond Joy.  Chocolate, coconut and nuts  all together, it just doesn't get any better than that.

7.  I married at  the age of  26  to an amazing man.  We got married in my husbands  house where his dad grew up. We had a very small wedding.  Because, I'm not  to crazy about being the center of attention when theirs lots of people. 

Paying it Forward to some other great blogs. You should them check out.

Erin@SeeMomRunFar

Shelby@PostScript

Jim@50after40

Jana@RunningVegetarian

Sheri@RunningThroughLife

NO EXCUSES

I posted in early March that I was going to start back on the WW plan.  WW has a new plan , so I had to got to a meeting to learn how this new plan works.   So now that I understand the new plan, I needed to get the stuff to work the plan.  If you read my last post.  You know I have been trying to get one of the new calculator so I would know what the point value of my food was. 


Sunday night I had a revelation.   I realized that my mind set was not ready to start counting points and  a food journal back in March.  I have been making EXCUSES.  EXCUSES  is exactly how I gained a lot of weight in  the past.


Sunday night I didn't sleep worth a darn.  My inner thigh was aching all night. You don't think it could be because my husband had me picking up rock out in a field and putting them in a 5 gallon bucket. But that's not all, I had to carry that bucket full of rocks to the pickup truck by the road and empty the bucket in the back of the pickup.  The freak in wind was so strong I thought I was going to blow away with the  bucket full of rocks.  And I wonder why I have leg and back issues.  The plus side of that I got lots of sun.  Always try to find something positive in what ever you do.


I had planned to get up extra early  on Monday and get 12 miles in before work.  I was so freak in tired, I shut the alarm off and slept till 7.00.   By now I'm thinking this is  not going to be a good food day. Mainly because when I'm tired I like to eat comfort food.  I packed my lunch with the mind set of counting points.   I was able to stay focused through out the day. Remembering whatever I put in my mouth, I had to count.  I even counted my French Vanilla Cappuccino.  After work  I was  able to get  in one hour  on the elliptical.


Since I didn't get the 12 miles done yesterday morning, I'm still obsessing on how to get them in.  I got to thinking if I can get a good night sleep,  I will get up extra early and get those 12 miles in this morning.  The alarm went off at 4.00 so I got up and got all my running gadgets on.  I was  hitting the pavement by 4.44 by what my  Chief showed.


 I'm trying to transition over to minimalist shoes.  I have a pair of the VFF''s    The farthest I have run in them is 7 miles. So this morning my goal was to do at least 9 miles in my VFF's and 3 miles in my running shoes.   By 9 miles my feet were hurting so I new my feet were telling me enough.  Boy when I put those running shoes on it felt so weird.  I really like the way my feet feel in the VFF's.


My Chief
Mile 1- 11.07
Mile 2-10.35
Mile 3-11.05
Mile 4-11.06
Mile 5-11.07
Mile 6- 11.31
Mile 7-11.30
Mile 8 -11.37
Mile 9-11.21
Mile 10- 11.09
Mile 11-10.57
Mile 12-11.07
Average pace -11.11


Two days down counting and journaling. It takes how many days to change a habit?  (21 days) OH Goodness, I  still have 19 more days to go to change my bad habits.  Hey it is two days  down that I didn't have last week.. So my MOTTO is  NO EXCUSES AND WORK IN PROGRESS.

                                         How is your week going?

                                          Are you  making Excuses?

                           Are you trying to transition into miminalist shoes?

Happy and Pissy

THE HAPPY

       I  had to get my long run in today or it was not happening.  I got to bed early, just so I could  make sure I got some good sleep time in. But of course, my son is in the field  disking and comes in around 1.30 in the morning.   My husband is a sleep in his chair waiting of our son to come  home so he can go back out and finish  disking   in case it rains.  M didnt hear P come in and woke up around 2:30 and woke me up to see if I had heard from P.  I said yes he got home at 1:30.  M said he was suppose to wake  me so I could finish  disking the  field. 

   By now I am wide awake, that has been how it has been the last several days.  Not a lot of sleep. I might not have little ones but I still have big ones that makes for sleepless nights.  So I finally got out of bed at 6:00 it took me  way to long to get all  of the running gear on.  What ever happen to just throwing on some shorts ,shirt,bra,socks, tennis shoes and running. It was 6:50 by the time I started hitting the pavement.  BUT I'M HAPPY

MY CHEIF
Mile-1 -10.46
Mile-2- 10.35
Mile-3-10.17
Mile-4-10.15
Mile-5- 10.36
Mile- 6- 10.29
Mile- 7 - 11.38  Here I had a turnaround and was running into the wind, just kept plucking away at it.
Mile -8 - 11.25
Mile- 9- 11.30
Mile - 10- 11.10
Mile - 11- 11.37  My quads and hamstrings were killing me. Still plucking away.
Mile - 12- 10.50

I'm glad that's over.  Actually it felt good to feel my quads hurting I havent felt that since my marathon last October.  It tells me I'm pushing myself  and that is all good. 

NOW WHY I'M PISSY

      I called the  800 number at WW to see when the new point calculators would be in  at the meeting locations, so I could pick up one.  Mined you this was 3 weeks ago.   I dont get into Des Moines as much as I use to.  I was working for the bank in West Des Moines, so I thought on my lunch hour I would run to the meeting and pick up a point calculator.  I get there an I'm looking for the calculators,  I dont see any,so I ask the lady where the point calculator are, she says they have not recieved them yet. I just wasted my lunch hour and they dont have any. I was not happy I was actually very pissy.  The lady was real nice and understood why I was mad.  She told me to fill out this comment sheet and she would send it in.

     I  just think if WW is going to change the program and market it, that they should have the products that people need to do the program. I know I can use the  point calculator on the computer that is not the point, because when I go to the store I have know way of determining what the point value is.   You can probably tell I dont like change very well. I'm having a hard time adjusting to this new program  anyway and not having a point calculator is making it that much worst. 


                  Did you have a good run today?

                           Do you get  pissy ?

                 Do you adjust to change very well?

Pink Hat Favicon

                                             CHECKOUT MY NEW FAVICON 

A Favicon is the little orange B up in the left hand of your blog, that is if you use blogger.  Dion  at  Favicon Fixer  is on a mission to Customize blog's and make them a little more personalized.  Dion at  Favicon Fixer  fixed me up with a pretty  pink hat. 

                                     DION IS DOING THIS FOR FREE. CHECK IT OUT

St.Patrick Race Recap

Didn't have to get up early to day for the St. Patrick  race because,  it didn't start till 11:00.  I'm not a fan of late start races but Oh well.   I got there early because I didn't have time to pickup my packet on Saturday.  I  also wanted to take some pictures before the race, so I would have some to put on my blog.  My running partner and I dressed  up for this race. I love to dress up, it makes the  race that much  more fun. 

When Kerri from Tutu Runner did her recap on her St.Patrick race, I absolutely loved  her tutu she was wearing.  I commented on how I wish I had a tutu to wear at my St.Patrick race.  Lo and behold she sent me a tutu . How awesome is that. 

Kerri runs with Team in Training.  She ran the Chicago Marathon last October 2010.  She sells tutus ( any color any size) to raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society, to fund Blood Cancer Research.
 So if you like my tutu, checkout the Tutu Runner .

RECAP  
  It was pretty windy today  and we were running into the wind till, around mile 4.  The last mile was all downhill, baby. Boy I was loving that. I need to start packing my water with me even on short races because, it was pretty warm here by 11:00 .  They only had one water stop for the 5k at 1 mile and for the 10k at 5 miles. I was dying of thirst.   At mile  4  a couple of guys in a  SUV  offered  me a cold  bottle of water  to take a drink.  I told them they were sweet hearts. I was really needing that drink, I was dying of thirst.

My Chief
1-Mile 10:03
2- Mile - 10:13
3-Mile - 10:42
4- Mile - 10:51
5 - Mile - 11:24
6 - Mile -10:55
Not the best times, but as I say I'm work in progress.  Time 1:04

Here is a couple of picture with the tutu's. The tutu's were a big hit at the race.

Did you have a race today?

Have you ever wore a tutu in a race?

Was the weather nice in your area?