Back on the Block

I've been caught up in life stuff... too distracted to blog and unfortunately, my running also suffered for a couple of weeks but this past week I was able to get it back in gear. Finished the Couch to 5k running program I started at the end of July today. YAY! It was a challenge but I actually managed to do a personal best mile at 9:54 min. Not bad for a smoker. The run had it's good moments and NOT so good moments... it looked like this:



Up next for me is the addition of a short "easy" run of about 1.6 miles and getting ready for my first ever race: a 5k fun run/walk to benefit a local hunger organization whose work I admire. It's GREAT to be able to suit two purposes... to do my first ever race and support a great cause.

I have had a revelation of late. My downtime from running coincided with some hard life stuff that is still resolving itself. I realized that a good part of the feelings I was having could have been ameliorated somewhat if I had been running more. I need to come back to read this blog to remember next time things get rought. RUNNING IMPROVES YOUR OUTLOOK ON MANY LEVELS!

If you folks are out there reading this, remember that... LOL... and let me know you passed through, would ya?!

FRG

Longest Run and Best Mile to Date!


So today was my second flat out run using the cool running Couch to 5k (C25k) training program. The first run was last week for 20 minutes... I did not do to well and had to repeat that day on Tuesday and did fine. Today, was simply amazing. My concerns that I would be too slow to hit 2.25 miles were unfounded as you can see my the graph. I actually did 2.29!!

I am looking back at when running for 3 minutes was hard and thinking "Goodness! Did I really just run 8 times longer than I could a few weeks ago?! AMAZING!" I am looking forward to just straight running from here on out. Reminding myself to continue to take it easy.

I had a couple of revelations this time out:
1) I hit my stride/rhythm right off the bat which was good even though I lost it a couple of times, I was able to get right back.

2) I used to think that running long distances was supposed to be easy, that nothing was going to pang or be uncomfortable. Now, I am beginning to think that it is more about willing yourself past that place in your brain that says, "you know, you can stop now, right?" I was tempted to slow to a walk in a couple of places... but instead I just slowed up, breathed deeper and kept going. I kicked out the last minute too and realize that I can actually kick out for TWO minutes. YAY!

The next couple of days are rest days for me. It will be torture but I have three days of 25 minute runs to look forward to next week.

High Tech Running Geek

Image from www.appleinsider.com

This is the gadget that many tech geek runners cannot stop praising. I don't want this to become an advertising page for Nike but this ingenious pairing of Nike fit lifestyle and Apple technology is incredibly useful.

Essentially, the device is a pedometer and received that hooks into your ipod Nano to track your distance, time, pace and calories all while listening to your favorite tunes including a POWERSONG which you can access at the push of a button to give yourself an extra kick in the pants.

What I love is that once you finish your run... you can upload your stats to the nike+ website and track your progress against goals you've set for yourself and challenges you can create with other nike+ runners.

I am in the 6th week of a Couch to 5k running program I found on the cool running website. Being able to track my progress has been a great incentive for me to stick with the program even though I am feeling very slow. My second run of the week was on Thursday. It was a 5 minute warm up followed by ten minutes of running, a three minute brisk walk and another ten minutes of running followed by a five minute cool down. (you can work the program by distance too but it's easier to set the intervals on my ironman watch. Anyway... thursday's run looked like this:



As I noted, I am not very fast but this is a pretty good start for me I think.

Tomorrow morning is my longest run yet: 25 minutes or 2.25 miles. Since I be slow I may not make the exact mileage but I will give it my best. Will post those results tomorrow.

Technorati Profile

Up until January of 2006, I was an aspiring rock star in a promising "neo-soul" band based in the Washington, D.C. area. Really, I think we were poised to "blow up" as they say. Check us out: www.oktbrwrld.com if you don't believe me.. (and uh.. buy a CD while you're over there.. they are QUITE good, if you ask me.

Anyway.. by the time we reached that fork in the road., the road that would lead to quitting day jobs and self supporting through music industry related activities.. well, I, for one, just did not care anymore. I had lost my love for the music. Lost my will to rehearse and perform and promote and create and... shrug. Shit.. it happens. Bottomline.. it just wasn't fun anymore.. was too much work for too little return and I really wondered if I wanted to spend 8 more years running up at that hill.

Anyway.. we took a vacation.. which turned into a haitus... which turned into our toying with the idea of reuniting.. but folks had gone off into their own little dream worlds and I was too busy in my own to corral folks so... I ENJOYED MY LIFE.

I sat on my ass and ate and drank, slept in on weekends, enjoyed my vacation time instead of saving it for band travel. I played ONLY when I wanted to and THAT was VERY little but I had decided that I would give myself a year to DECOMPRESS. To just blow in the breeze... to SEE if the itch to play and LOVE for music would return.

Being HIGHLY obsessive... when the itch did not resurface after 7 months and the LOVE of music was not quite compelling enough to get me to actually PLAY some... I latched onto something NEW.

My partner likes to feed me... and I LIKE to eat... those things coupled with my new sedentary life meant that FRG was carrying a little extra weight. Now MIND YOU... my fighting weight (dating/rockstar weight) is about 135 TOPS... which for a chick at 5'9" is a bit TOO reminiscent of super models and meth heads... so the extra 20 pounds I am rocking really are NOT so extra... but.. I wasn't wearing them like a tailored new suit and that was not working for me...

I KNEW I had to GET FIT. But how?

Gold's Gym has a franchise right across the street from my office.. yeah and? I ain't giving GOLDS crap!! I get healthy and YOU profit.. um.. NAW.. that is too.... um.. anyway...

I needed something that did not require too much cash outlay (or so I thought, but more on that later), something that did not require me to motivate to DRIVE somewhere and be at the whims of OTHER PEOPLE, and something that would make me get off my ass and out of the house. and it hit me.. RUNNING.. perfect.. the sport that you hate.... the thing that you said you would only do if Freddie and Jason and Chucky were CHASING you.. RUNNING.

But... it made sense... the seed sprouted and the last week of July.. I bought some Adidas Supernova Classics from Fleet Feet in Adams Morgan and started a run/walk program.

I am now in week 6 of a 9 week program I found on www.coolrunning.com. Couch to 5k... takes sedentary folks like me..from dipping chips and channel surfing to completing a 5k.. in a little over two months! Amazing? Yes. Impossible? Not so much.

So there it is.. my journey from FunkyGuitarGirl to FunkyRunnerGirl... the journey has begun.

Now, I am under NO illusions that anyone other than me will actually read this.. or want to.. but in my initial throes of getting fit, I had the revelation that getting my BODY together was crucial to getting my MIND and SOUL together... which are not just good preparation for me getting BACK to my muse.. but also for my Commitment Ceremony next summer.

But THAT is another entry.. for another time.