Week 3: Run 1 (#7) - 2 Miles!!

Today we ran our 2 mile Sunday run. I was hoping that our yesterdays 4 mile run/ walk had not sucked all the life out of me, and it hadn't. The 2 mile run was not super easy but it was not super difficult too. I did walk when I needed a break but never for too long. It was Harsh's first run with the group and our silly signals for pick up speed and slow down really did help me when I wanted to stop and go back to a walk but the slowing down in pace kept me going. My knees didn't run, and I can truthfully say I felt great. I did not care too much about running quickly but whatever pace we ran with today, I did not have any trouble breathing. Hurray to that! Tomorrow is my rest day. My muscles (yay! I may have muscles after all!) need some relaxation.

PS: Today our mentor said that if we keep coming regularly to our runs, we should be able to complete our marathon. I wish his words should come true for everyone! He said he knows a charity that has extra tickets for the MCM marathon. Harsh is getting one, anyone else interested?

Makeup Run: Angry birds and Bugs Bunny!

After a disappointing run on Friday, Harsh decided to cheer me a little by taking me for another run on Saturday. I was glad he wanted to run with me because I could relax and run at a comfortable pace and get my 1 mile run correct this time. We started off slowly putting no pressure and reached the half mile point easily jogging the entire time. Then Harsh gave his signal which meant that we had to pick up our pace, even that felt good. I did pause when we reached the traffic signals but ran almost all the way. We had covered a little over 1.8 miles running when the thought that we had to run back the same distance occurred. It was a beautiful day and I saw many birds on our run, 2 of them very similar in looks to the red and blue angry birds! I even saw a bunny rabbit! Oh it was so cute, hopping along!

Well we walked a little more, we wanted to see the 2 mile marker and thats when my knees started hurting. My knees don't hurt on most runs, but they were hurting after I had slowed to a walk. Harsh asked me to brush it off, and keep my mind on the trail and nature. Nature can be very distracting at times! We saw this runner in pink waiting for the signal to cross the street with us and she was such an inspiration. We started running once again. We did a quick sprint near the last half mile marker and then decided to walk the rest of the way. My knee was surprisingly not hurting as badly and the run just made our day!

Week 2: Run 3 (# 6) - Rain + Run = Fun!

Me and my little brother used to make paper boats when it rained. We had a slope coming inwards to our house and it meant rain water collecting in our front yard when it rained. We would sneak out to get wet or if it was the first rain of the season it generally meant small hail stones falling from the skies above. We would rush to collect them in our little palms and eat them before they melted. Sometimes if we caught a big one we would rush indoors completely wet to show our granny what treasure we had caught in our palms.

It rained this friday so we got to run in the rain. It was such a fun run for most people. I don't know why I was tired this friday, my body seemed fine but mentally I was not prepared to run. When we finally ran our 1.1 mile I just dashed out, determined to be done with it as soon as possible. I just wanted to go home and have a warm cup of tea, maybe even sleep for a little while I suppose, but instead I kept pushing myself and then kept going out of breath. I would run overtake a couple of people only to go back for a walk to end up right where I started behind them. My breath was erratic and though my legs felt as if they could easily run longer my breath said a firm 'no-no'. A friend helped me get through the run. Hadn't he told me to push myself, I don't think I would've kept running.

I was throughly disappointed in myself. Not even the rain or the pretty little turtle that I held in my hand (to take him off the road) could cheer me. I just wanted another chance to redo my run, to do it right this time.

Week 2: Run 2 - I can run!

We were running another 1 mile run with the group today. One of my goals for today was to run the 0.5 mile at a stretch and try to beat the time of 14 minutes that I usually take to complete the 1.1 mile mark. Today I did both and I couldn't be happier. I realized near the very end that I may not be able to make it before the 14 minute target and thats when I said to myself, whats the worst that can happen if I start sprinting for the last few meters or so. My brain did not give me any reason not to, maybe it was too tired or too optimistic or still stuck on the validation that I working on. And surprisingly my legs took off and I think I finished somewhere close to the 13 minute time today. When I finished I was out of breath, but my legs were numb, I didn't feel any pain! The legs did pain for a while later but nothing too serious. Feels good to push yourself and be able to achieve something as simple finishing one minute faster. But for that instant I felt good about it. Week 2, run 2, so far so good!

Hydration, hydration.. hydration!

So I found out something about running that I didn't know before. Running during late evenings makes you fresh! By fresh I don't mean the usual I feel good fresh, but I'm talking about the lime and lemon fresh, fresh as in I have finished two bottles of RedBull and a bottle of 5 hour energy and I can do anything fresh! :)

Yesterday I felt so good, I did all of my chores, finished the book that I have been reading for days, watched a cartoon on netflix, saw a ton of youtube videos about running, spent a minimum of 1 hour researching between  hydration belt and hydration pack, spent another 1 hour researching and going over reviews for various belts. I can't say I was super productive but hey, I didn't watch TV (youtube is not TV!) and I actually did stuff that seemed interesting at the time. Hey, Amazon and youtube are seriously addictive!

Finally bought the FuelBelt revenge 4 water belt from amazon. No logic there, it was close to 3am in the morning and I just had to make a choice. PS: Hydration is super important while running, however over hydration on the other hand is not really good (Heres why: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/6/6_1/1179.shtml). So my research resulted in the conclusion that one should drink water only when one feels thirsty.  

Week 2: Run 1 - The Hare and the Tortoise

We missed this Sunday's run as we were out late with my husbands friends.
In order to make up we decided to go for a 1.5 mile run today. We skipped the treadmill and took the sidewalk instead. Treadmill is for kids (Oh I miss you treadmill!). We figured 2 laps would be roughly 1.5 miles.

I started off running faster determined to improve my speed today, also, I wanted to show off to my husband that I was getting much better at my runs. He on the other hand started off slow at a constant pace. What I had forgotten is that he used to run! Even before we reached the .5 mile mark he was ahead of me, I decided I needed to breathe better and keep my speed higher. I ran faster over taking him several times only to go back to a walk out of breath a few minutes later to find him come from nowhere to over take me comfortably every single time.

There is nothing like some healthy (literally in this case!) competition once in a while. I realized after our 2 laps were done that even though he hadn't run in over 4 years, he was still better at it than me. We walked another lap just to be sure we covered the 1.5 mile distance. As the story goes the Tortoise won the race comfortably and by a huge distance all the while steadily increasing his pace while the Hare in this case panted for air! :)

I will find out what I missed in this Sunday's run and update this blog. Week 2 starts, so far so good.

Week 1: Run 3 - The Click

We run shorter distances every Wednesday and Friday and run longer distances on Sundays. Today I ran another 1.1 mile in 14 minutes again and I ran almost all of the way.. Yay! I had almost given up as I was reaching the end and wanted to walk, but I guess I have a stronger will than when I had first begun. There is this sign board we touch at the end of the run and I just wanted to run all the way to it, and I just did that. It also felt good that two of my closest friends came running with me today. And we gave each other high fives, oh yes we did, call us childish but it actually felt good because we knew we deserved it.

We were given a question today. Why don't we all run fast? What is the one major thing that holds us back. We had a couple of great answers, someone said our mind, someone said stamina, someone said muscles and we had a couple of funny answers too, but there was another answer which the questioner suggested that we had not thought of. He said it was our breath. He reasoned that when we run our strongest muscles are put into action and they need oxygen. So when we run try to focus only on the run, focus on breathing deeper to get as much oxygen to our muscles.

I found this great article on runners world on how to improve breathing as we run.
http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/lung-power?page=single

And you ask me why I named this run a click? Well thats the sound my knee has been making since afternoon. Its a sound I have heard it make before and I am not too worried about it. If my knee hurts more I will get it checked but for now, so far so good.