Race for Pace

I completed the Race for Pace in 28:55.

If I would have run the race about three weeks ago, when I was working out like crazy, that time time might have been a little disappointing. But I have to keep telling myself over and over that I am 40. Unfortunately, saying it does not help me accept it all that much. Not that I am 40; I am cool with that. But that I am past my running prime. But proof of that was right before me: I ran into a former student whom I beat by about two and a half minutes when I ran the race two years. This year, he bested me by seven and a half minutes.

I know I should be focused on my finishing the race in under 30 minutes, which is great, considering I have been running about once a week. And I am absolutely proud of myself, particularly considering that I struggled a bit during my runs lately. I was not convinced I could do it in under 30 minutes. But I did it.

A few other notes:

It was cold, probably about 35-degrees at race time, but sunny. My running gear consisted of a long-sleeved t-shirt, a windbreaker, yoga pants, socks as gloves, and a flexible knee brace I used to wear at the beginning of this century when I ran several times a week. I unzipped the windbreaker during the last 2/3 of the mile, and maybe even took it off. The socks on my hands also came off about that time (I did not have gloves, but those babies worked great, even for nose-wiping purposes, as gross as that sounds, but it was cold).

I am happy to report that I was almost pain-free the entire time (the knee brace was a good call); even my feet hurt very little, though during the first mile, two of my toes were numb from the cold! I have this odd breathing pattern, which I tried to replicate when I was lying in bed, but couldn't. Regardless, it seems to work for me, and, almost as important, I am not wheezing and gasping as I seem to always notice some people do during these races.

I started off strong, kept a pretty steady pace, struggled a bit near the end up the last hill, but "kicked it in" as best as I could the last tenth of a mile. Having my friend Diane there cheering me on really helped. As I was struggling up the last hill, she made me laugh (or at least smile as I was out of breath) when she yelled, "Go, Faith! Don't embarrass me." 

During the last mile, a woman who I determined was somewhere near my age (which impressed me, because I am lousy at figuring out ages) passed me. I thought about pushing myself even more, in case she was going to be the difference between my getting third place and fourth place. But in the end, the last hill was too much for me, and I could not go any faster. I convinced myself to just keep going as I was so I could finish in under 30 minutes

When the time came for my age group awards, the person they announced for third place was that woman who passed me. I could not believe it! Oddly enough, when I checked my results online that evening, I was listed as being in third place in my age group. I emailed the race director about it, who just emailed me a bit ago saying she would look into it. I admit the competitor in me is disappointed to think they made a mistake that cost me getting my name mentioned and a medal, but the mature gal in me is going to keep telling myself this:

I am 40, I finished the race in under 29 minutes, and I am proud of this body!

I ran!

After almost 2.5 months without a run, I finally got one in, in Indiana County. I originally planned to run for 20 minutes, since I knew it had been a couple of months since I last run. But after about 10 minutes into it, I decided to try to run my usual route to see how long it would take.

I need to verify that I ran 3.1 miles (it might have been a tenth or two more or less). But knowing it was at least close to 3 miles and doing it in just over 31 minutes, I am calling it a success. It is good to know that Zumba and swimming keep me in pretty good shape.

Literally two steps into the run, my left knee hurt. Soon after my right foot hurt. Not long after that, my calves started to bother me, and during the last mile, my left foot hurt. Even though it sounds like a lot of pain, nothing hurt me too badly, and I completed the run in the sun without stopping, so yeah, me! I really need to get a new pair of shoes, however. I am thinking I have been running with these for about a year (I need to check the old posts), but considering how infrequently I have been running, I would think they still have some life left in them.

My guess is I won't be writing a running post again for another month or two, but you never know. I have been swimming 1 to 3 times per week as well as doing Zumba once a week, so I have not been completely lazy. :-)

I swear, I have been exercising!

Between Christmas-related stuff and subbing, I have been pretty busy. Too busy to post about my exercising, but fortunately not too busy to do said exercising.

For the past few weeks, I have consistently managed to swim three times a week. Unfortunately, other than a run on the treadmill, which I will blog about next, I have done nothing other than swim, unless you count running around Christmas shopping, which, when you think about it, is really kind of a sport.

I don't know if it is my age or the repetition, but I have noticed some leg pain lately when I have been swimming. It is almost starting to feel like running!

Yesterday was my most productive swim of the past two weeks. I manged to swim 40 laps (20 + 20) and jog about 30 minutes (20 + 10). It was a bit of a struggle for the first 20 laps as my left hamstring was bothering me. But I refused to stop, not so much because I am being dumb (at least I hope not), but because my leg pain pretty much always goes away when I am done swimming, so I reason it can't be serious. When I did my second set of 20 laps, I did not notice the leg pain as much or maybe at all. But I was swimming fast as there was a guy in the pool, and I am all about looking as if I am athletic!

I still contend that swimming is great exercise, and I am going to try to keep with it. Maybe I just need to switch it up a bit. We'll see.

Running around the pool

Well, technically, I was running in the pool. And I was actually jogging. But since I have not gone running for almost three weeks now, and that was just on the dreaded treadmill, I figured I needed to do something running-related.

So for about 20 minutes yesterday, I jogged in 3' to 4' of water. It was a decent workout; I certainly felt the water's resistance. And it was good to move pretty much nonstop for that length of time. The only snafu was my feet hurt a little, thanks to the not-so-smooth bottom. Not sure if running with water shoes would help, though.

I still have no idea when I am going to get back out there. I had an awful cold last week. Yesterday it was only about 20 degrees. And we are supposed to get some snow today. Maybe by the end of this week I can attempt at least a one mile run. I sure hope so.

In the meantime, I am going to try to keep up with the swimming. I still managed to get in about six laps (which I like to call 12, since I am going up and back) yesterday after my "jog," but as usual, they were not consecutive. At least I am moving!

Oh, the pain

This week was one of my most productive, athletically speaking, in quite some time. I ran about nine miles over two days. I swam three times; though technically the third time I managed only a couple of laps, I did work my legs for about 20 to 30 minutes while sitting on the edge of the pool each of those days. I ran up the 65 steps 20 times on Friday. And today I walked around downtown Pittsburgh for several hours for the Light-Up Night second day celebration. On top of that, thanks to my not being able to find everything and forgetting things on my list, I covered a lot of distance at several grocery stores multiple times this week!

I am beat and I am sore. I am not sure if the leg pain (both thigh and calf) is because I had not run that many steps that many times for over two months or if it was because I just did not stretch enough when I was done. Either way, I probably could have done without all the walking today. But no rest for the weary: I am supposed to take my kid swimming tomorrow, and hopefully the ol' legs will be recovered by then.

Regardless, I want to hang on to this week because with Thanksgiving next week, I will be lucky to get one run in. And even if I do manage to run and swim twice, with the amount of food I plan to consume...

Indoors versus outdoors

I would have to do some research on this, but my guess is most runners prefer to run outdoors. For me, running outside offers more to look at and makes the time pass more quickly.

For about four years, most of my runs were at the gym. For two of those years (in the early part of this century), I was at the gym most days anyway lifting weights, so it made sense to do my running there as well. The downside was it took about 16 laps for one mile. I would try to run about three miles, so at times it seemed never-ended. And sometimes, I lost count. The gym also frowned upon sprinting, but I did that (well, fartleks) during most runs.

Running on a treadmill is even more boring, but at least you can keep track of your mileage and have the machine change speeds for you. When I was training for a 5k in 2006 (my one and only that year), I did so on the treadmill. My goal for that 5k, since it had been four years since my last one, and almost as long since I had run regularly, was to complete it in under 30 minutes. To do so, I ran on the treadmill one or two days a week for six weeks, for a couple of miles at a time. I included some sprints on the treadmill as well. I probably ran three miles on the treadmill only once during those weeks. Since I stayed pretty active, I was hopeful that would be enough training. Plus, I figured at 34, I was at my peak running age. More on that race later.

Currently, I am running through some hilly streets in a Pittsburgh community (I realize hilly describes just about every neighborhood in the Burgh). I try to run about two miles, up to three days a week, but unfortunately I have managed only one or two days per week the last few weeks. Running up and down streets is definitely more enjoyable than running around the track or on a treadmill. But running on asphalt is tough on your body. Already my knees and legs have hurt on some days. But I am also almost 38...