Run Run Run

Hello friends!


I realize I've been MIA for a couple of weeks now. Just a bit of writer's block I guess.
I would like this blog to be primarily about fitness and health, but since I'm an expert in neither, I wasn't sure what to write! Who am I to give advice and tips to anyone? I'm just a regular person, not a personal trainer or nutritionist or physical therapist.

From now on, you'll find me writing more about my day to day experiences when it comes to fitness and health. I'll post about my successes and failures, any good recipes I come across, any good articles I've read...



Let's begin!



Sometimes, running just feels amazing. Like, better than usual. It was that way for me on Saturday. My training schedule said 6 miles. I haven't run that far in a long time, so I was nervous that it wouldn't go well. I've struggled the past few weeks because I've been switching my focus from weight lifting back to running. My body needed some time to re-adjust. As a result, some runs just felt draining. I had to take walk breaks and my legs just felt like they didn't want to keep going. I may have been pushing too hard though.

I'm pretty competitive with myself and don't like to back-track. If I was able to run at a certain pace, the next time I better a least run that fast or faster. It doesn't work like that when you take a break! You have to build back up.

By the time Saturday rolled around, though, I had finally been back in the swing of things long enough and I was able to enjoy my 6 miles, for the most part. My legs and lungs kept up with each other and I felt like I could run all day. Unfortunately, I've been struggling with a piercing side pain that tends to show up toward the end of some of my runs. Saturday around 4.25 miles AND 5 miles I had to stop and walk because of this pain. It isn't just a side cramp. Its a screaming pain just under my right side rib cage. If I try to run through it, I just can't because even shallow breathing makes it feel like I'm being stabbed!

BUT I walked for maybe 10-20 seconds, tried to take some deep breaths, started back up, and I was able to finish within my time goal of an hour. Six miles in 59:55 to be exact. Which is right around a 10 minute mile. Slower than I like, but for a long run that I'm not quite used to yet, I felt like a million bucks and I was pretty dern proud of myself.

Today though, was a little more typical. I ran 4.5 miles in 42:51, but my body was just saying- Heeey... why are you doing this... I wanna lay down!!
I wasn't in pain and I wasn't too tired to go on, but my body just wasn't really into it. I said- Shut up, we're doing this. 
No terrible side pain today so no walking breaks, which I'm thankful for!

If you're interested here are my times for today's run:

Mile 1- 9:31
Mile 2- 9:23
Mile 3- 9:32
Mile 4- 9:40
Mile 4.5- 4:44

This is more like what I'd like my mile times to be right now. I'm hoping to get down under 9 minutes by the end of the summer.

New shoes. Its best to go to an actual shoe store and get fitted properly, but I found these on clearance, and I'm hoping they work out for running shoes. I bought my last pair off the shelf too and haven't had any issues. I haven't had any foot/knee/back problems when it comes to running, except for a couple little blisters on my pinkie toes. So we'll see!

I'm training for my first 10K run which is next week on July 4th. I made up my own training schedule, based off another schedule I found on a running website. I used the schedule last fall. I'll talk about that another day though.

My goal is to finish the race in under an hour. Since I was able to run my 6 miles in just under an hour, I think I will be able to finish the 10K (6.2 miles) in under an hour as well. Those last .2 miles are the tricky part, but I usually run a bit faster on race day due to adrenaline and excitement :)


That's all for today! Thanks for stopping by!


-Emerald Eye