chimesblog

I haven’t run more than 9 miles since last year’s half marathon, but I ran 10 last weekend.

And shattered my old 10 mile PR! By 14 minutes.

Check it out — here are my race times (some are embarrassing — note that my mile time for the marathon is my WALKING pace, though I didn’t walk!).

[previous 10 mi time — Capital Pursuit 2008]

[last Saturday's run — note the epically fast ending at 6:41/mi]

I am definitely giving myself props. And bragging rights.  Not to mention that it was 95° out on Saturday compared to the 50° 2 years ago.  YAY!

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oooh I’m sooo excited!  I had a fabulous run yesterday and I procrastinated enough to make it outside *just* as the sun finally poked out of the clouds.  

I ran for 35 minutes, sticking with my plan of increasing my time by 5 minutes a week until I get up to a respectable distance (ie. 7 miles or so) then going by increasing miles instead and adding a day of shorter speedwork with intervals. Right now I’m running 2-3 days a week and crosstraining on the other 2-4 days of the week. 

Overall, taking the break from running has really helped me improve. I’ve stepped back and thought more about things I didn’t before like form and speed. I’ve realized the importance of crosstraining, stretching and strength training firsthand—rather than just reading an expert opinion on these matters and ignoring it.

Anyway, I think I’m going to bounce back in a good way if I continue to be strategic about running rather than just plugging away countless miles.  I’ve been paying more attention to my body’s signals lately. If I hurt somewhere — more than just a regular soreness — I take care to rest or pay extra attention to that when stretching or strength training.

Anyway, here’s yesterday’s awesome run.

I’m kind of excited to see the under 8 min/mi speed at the end. I don’t fully realize my potential. I’ve been running the same speed for so many years that it’s inherent like breathing or a heartbeat. I keep starting all my runs at that pace but realize I can go faster as I get warmed up. Maybe I should jog a 3-5 minute warm up, stretch, then turn on my nike+ for the real run portion?  Or is that being too competitive/anal? I don’t know. I’ve never really run competitively, but I might start once I get back in the game for good (as in more than 4 miles and 2-3 days a week). 

Also — I reset my resolutions on nikeplus.com to realistic goals now that I’m honestly recovering/recuperating (you know..only 7-8 months after the initial injury). This month: 20 miles. I’m only 7 miles short. I can definitely make it.  

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I had a PR and hit a milestone of 500 miles today while running… but what sticks in my mind about my run today is the new Pepsi bottle stuck in the beautiful snowy country landscape.

It’s not the fact that it was litter — although that bothers me as well — it’s mainly because the bottle wields a terribly redesigned pepsi campaign. argh.

seriously? way to ruin the environment and my run.

I should have taken 2 pictures: one of the landscape and a closeup (shown). Normally I wouldn’t be able to take a picture like this, but I brought my phone with me in case the snow got too slippery.

Anyway, here’s the running stats.

New mile PR.
New 10K PR.
500 miles on the Nike+.

IN THE SNOW. take that Iowa winter.

w00t. I'm about 15 short of 1000 since last March though.

today's run (holy hannah, that big "hill" in the graph: yeah, that's 6:49/mi.

Nike+ gave me the option to buy this t-shirt... for 30 bucks. um no.

Here are my PRs as of today (notice the new mile and 10K time). My HONEST 10K PR is like :51 something, but that was before I had nike+. Also, I've never timed just one mile on this thing...could be interesting.

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my average time FINALLY made it under 10 min/mi according to Nike+.

And if you notice, I’m pretty close to 500 miles (since August — I’m about 15 miles away from 1000 since last March).

I ran 7 miles last night between the treadmill and track. Dunno if I’ve mentioned this before, but I HATE running inside. BO-RING. I did each for about a half hour.

Today I did speed intervals. Nothing too exciting.

I also noticed that nikeplus.com adds a cool background if you ran at night vs. the day. This is the day version (missing a hell of a lot of snow though).

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I’m meeting a friend for brunch today so I got up early to try to get a run in. Didn’t do so hot on 6 hours of sleep with the ice and the wind, but 5K will do.

Of course, I swear my Nike+ KNOWS when I’m tired or when I’m not motivated and decides to stop my workouts when I pause to catch my breath.  Stupid thing. It’s probably the armband I’ve got but they don’t make armbands for the iPod nano that I’ve got anymore.

Anyway, I checked my goals on nikeplus.com and I acheived my goal of 5 runs in under 8:55 a mile for this month. I reset the goal to 5 runs in under 8:45 a mile for the next month.  I’m also close to finishing my workout 16 times this month goal…but I think it might be because some of my workouts endeed up split. :/

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Went for a run on my original running route, which includes the “hill of death” — a half mile nearly straight up and down. YUCK.

Almost killed me but I refuse to stop on a hill, especially that one since it took me nearly 2 years to be able to actually climb it.

Anyway…add these three together. I was pause happy today and my nike+ was malfunction happy today too.

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I’ve been blogging quite  bit lately and that’s because I’ve been in Ames with the B-to-the-Eff. I came down Thursday night before a big snowstorm to go out with some graduating friends, got  super sick with a stomach flu or food poisoning of some sort and couldn’t go, stuck around for rounds 2 and 3 of going out and am still here because it was too cold and windy to go to my car today.

That being said, it was too cold and windy to run today too. The running has tapered off a lot lately due to the weather (not so much cold…more snow/ice/wind).

I disovered my 2008 Rundown on nikeplus.com. It’s kind of interesting. Apparently I like to run on Wednesdays. Also, nikeplus.com assumes I’m running to get places and save gas. haha.

These are my stats (since mid-August). Official mileage (since March) is something like 893.58?

That’s about it for now. Nothing too exciting. We’re concluding Snugglefest 2008 tonight and kicking off 2009 with another Snugglefest after New Years since I don’t have to go back to work until January 5th *ducks*.  Cuz that’s how I roll *ducks again*.

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I’m super close to 1000 miles for this year on Iowa State’s Rec Milers.  That means I get another intermural champion shirt… w00t.

this year

I checked my goals on Nike+ and I’m ahead of both my goals for this month. Awesome.

2 runs ahead of my goal for runs under 9:14/mi

8 runs ahead of my Run More Often Goal

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yay. finally got that last workout to load.

i rock.

which totally reminds me — on Saturday I ran down Grand Ave. and went past a car with a hilarious license plate: MANIROK. (man i rock)

MANIROK’s entire front end was smashed in…like the owner rammed it aimlessly into a pole. MANILAUGHED.

anyway… today’s run= 2 PRs.  Mile time and 5K time. Probably not the fastest mile I’ve ran in my life, but the fastest since I’ve gotten the Nike+.

Also, I’d set a goal to run 5 times at under 9:35/mi pace in a month.  I’m well ahead of that goal, which I was not anticipating.

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