There's No Running in Luckenbach...

Got back yesterday from a fabulous weekend in Luckenbach, Tx. The weather was perfect, the camping was fun, and my boys did well in their Trial's Competition. I'll post all about it soon, but I need to upload some video and stuff first. [Besides, life in Luckenbach is slower paced and not conducive to a post about running. :)]

In the meantime, I figure I'd better finish the running info. that I promised...just in case anyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting for it. :)

I already gave you all my training secrets, but I've picked up some race-day secrets from some real runners that have been extremely helpful in actually finishing a race strong, and I thought it might be nice if I shared them with you!

First of all, when you begin training, sign up for a race that's a month or so away to give you motivation to keep training. A 5K is a good distance for your first race, and having that goal in mind when you train can be a huge asset.

Secondly, when you start the race, your adrenaline will be pumping, and you will tend to start the race at a quicker pace than you are used to running. This will tire you out too quickly and you may find that you have lost all your juice before the race is over. A trick I learned from a running trainer is to start with smaller steps than usual, and even a slightly slower pace than you are used to. He said it should almost feel uncomfortable, like you want to break out into a full run. If you have been training and find that you can run 2.0-2.5 miles, but just can't get to that 3rd mile mark, try this approach. Generally, if you run this way for the first .5-1.0 mile, and then move into your normal, comfortable gait, you will find that you still have energy to finish that 3.1 miles. (This is what I did before my first race and it worked. The first time I tried it, I ran the full 3.1 miles and I had power to run the last 100 yards or so, full out.) The mantra is, "It's better to finish strong, than to start strong and fizzle out."

And the third tip I got from reading Kristen Armstrong's running blog. She said that during one race, she decided to stop and walk when she was handed her cup of water along the route. She walked for just a minute or so as she drank the water, and then started running again. She said that it made a big difference in her ability to finish the race strong. (I believe she was running a 1/2 or full marathon at the time.)

Okay, so that's about all I've got on the running tips. Except that if you happen to be blessed enough to own or be able to buy an iPod Nano with Nike+, do it! I received one as a gift, and it has been the best thing EVER for my running. It keeps track of your distance, and times. It can be programmed for a certain distance, or a certain amount of time. It can upload all of the information to Nike.com and keep track of how far you've run, and what is your average pace, etc. It's a fabulous tool, and I wouldn't run without it now that I've run with it! I use it for walking days AND running days, and it is very accurate and a great tool to see my progress--or lack of progress--as the case has been lately! :)

If you've recently started a walking, jogging, or running program, leave me a comment and let me know how it's going and anything you've learned along the way that might be helpful to me as well. And if anyone is interested in a little walking/running challenge, let me know that as well. I've got some ideas running around in my head for a marathon in a month that anyone could do, and it might be fun if people wanted to join in! Leave me your ideas and let's see what we can put together.

Run, Run, as Fast as You Can.....or Not!

Yesterday, Spence Smith posted So You Wanna Run on his blog. I've been following Spence on Twitter since he was competing in the Iron Man competition earlier this year, so I was really interested in what he had to say about getting started running.

The article is a good one for covering the basics of getting started as a runner. And let me just state for the record that his comments on finding a Running Store to get fitted for running shoes are ABSOLUTELY correct! When I first started running 8 years ago, I made a grave "shoe buying error" and ended up having to have cortisone shots in my knees just to be able to walk...it was NOT fun.

I took a hiatus from the running after that, but decided to dive back in after the birth of child #4 and the diagnosis of my kidney disease. I wrote all about it here in case you missed it.

Earlier this summer, I went on another running hiatus to have a couple of kidney surgeries and what not, and have just recently begun to get back to it.

Spence's post got me thinking about the many different ways to train as a runner. Most of the "training plans" that I've seen weren't really feasible for someone in my condition, or with my schedule. I was recently discussing with my doctor the way I train, and he told me that it was actually a really good way to do it...surprise, I'm doing something right! :) Anyway, I thought I would share with you the basics of how I train to run, as well as a couple of tips I've learned along the way from actual, real runners.

First and foremost WALK FIRST!

I've been taught that you don't really want to stretch before a run, but you do want to walk. I can't remember the reasoning for this off the top of my head, but since I'm not really a very flexible person, I have embraced this rule! :)

Now the thing that is different about the way I train is keeping time. Unless you run on a treadmill with a fancy digital clock on it, it's very difficult to follow the "run for 1 minute-walk for 3 minutes" style of training. When you are running through neighborhoods, or even on running tracks, trying to keep an eye on your watch is difficult, so I came up with a plan that works better for me. I keep track by the songs I'm listening to.

I start my music and I walk for the 1st 2 songs that play. Then I run/jog through the 3rd. Then I walk the fourth, run the fifth, etc. When I'm nearing the end of my scheduled time, I walk the final two songs as a cool down. THEN it's time to stretch. You'll want to stretch out those leg and back muscles carefully to help keep you from getting sore. You will also want to drink lots of water throughout the day. This really helps keep the soreness at bay as well.

Now, I will stick with this routine for at least one full week if I'm running every day, and possible 2 weeks if I'm only running 3-4 days a week. Then the routine is to walk 2 songs, run 2 songs, walk 1 song, run 2 songs, walk 1 song, etc., again ending with walking and stretching. After a week or two of this, I go to walk 2 songs, run 3, walk 1, run 3, etc. Once I get to the point where I can run for 30 consecutive minutes without needing to stop and walk, I begin to add distance to my runs. If I'm training for a 5K (3.1 miles), I will begin to go that distance on my daily runs, I will run as long as I can, and stop and walk through 1 song only when I need a break. I then run again until I need another 1 song break. At this point, I finish the entire 3.1 miles and then finish by walking through one final song. This plan has worked wonders for me and I have trained and run in several 5K events and one 5 Mile event.

I'm out of time for posting today....part two coming soon!

Has it really been that long???

Wow, I was just talking to my sister and she reminded me that I hadn't updated the blog in awhile...(Just for the record, I've had sick kids, cake orders, Christmas shopping, etc. to occupy my days and nights lately.)...but honestly, I had no idea it had been 9 days since my last post! I was thinking more like...um...four....oops!

So, even though I'm right smack dab in the middle of a laundry, cleaning, and gift-wrapping extravaganza and I still have a little shopping, and Christmas baking left to do, I thought I'd better write something quick to catch you all up just a little bit!

Since I've been gone, Denise and I have run in another 5K race...she totally kicked my butt this time. It was impossible to stick together in the crowd of around 4,000, so I just ran my race and thought I was going at a pretty fast pace for the first mile or so and expected to finish about 5 minutes ahead of her since my previous best time was about 14-15 minute miles and hers was 17.

But this race was a unique one because it ran through the Christmas Trail of Lights which is a huge annual event here, and there were soooo many people, and soooo many of them were pushing strollers, and walking their dogs, and stopping to take pictures of the lights, and to pick up their dog's poop, that we ended up having to slow down and switch course many, many, times during the race. I told her that I think I actually ran about 4 miles if you counted all the back and forth across the trail I was doing! Now, the race didn't exactly start out well for either of us. We were a little later arriving because of obligations with my children, and parking was closed, so we had to park almost a mile away and walk to the race start! I KNOW!!! And about the time we were too far away from the car for me to consider going back, I realized that I had left my MP3 player IN THE CAR! Aargh!!! Have I mentioned that I hate running without music? It encourages me. It relaxes me. It makes the run tolerable. And...it paces me. About this time I also realized that I wasn't wearing my running watch either...sigh. Can you say, "Give it up and head to Starbucks?" Yeah, sounded good to me too! So, here I was running with no music, no watch, right behind a guy holding his bag of dog poop (it's very hard to be sucking air when you are following a bag of dog poop, by the way) I was completely miserable, and not enjoying the lights at all, but I still had hope to finish with a new personal best time. So, I reached the 2 mile marker tired, but determined to finish the race without walking and hopefully log a decent time despite all the "lap traffic". Guess what was waiting for us in the final 1.2 miles of the race? HILLS!!! Three or four of them to be exact, but one very long, fairly steep one that threatened to do me in. I continued out of pure determination since I had absolutely NO energy left, and no music to keep me going. But I did keep going, and just as I'm recovering from the first hill and enjoying a brief downhill section of the course, here comes Denise right up alongside of me! I was impressed! Not because I'm any great runner or anything, but Denise has only been running for a few months, and she hadn't run at all in the past month! I had at least run 3 miles a couple of weeks before the race, so I knew I could still do it even though my training had slacked off as well. We ended up finishing within a minute of each other, but the thing is, she took 3 or 4 minutes off of her previous best 5K time, and I added 5 minutes to my previous best time! The best part of the whole race was that at the end of the race, there was a Starbuck's Station set up and they were giving away free Peppermint Mochas! They were really not much more than a shot-glass full, but still...totally made the run worth it for me! So, big props to Denise for a great run! I hope you are proud of yourself. And Vanessa, if you're reading this, where were you? I think you should join us for the next race, don't you think?

And now, although I have much more to tell you, I do need to get back to the laundry, cleaning, gift-wrapping, and baking. I'll try to jump back on here later to continue the update, 'cause really, I have a big one for you! Well, it's not that big really, but it's big to me.

Thanks for stopping by!