THE MISSION
I am training for a 10K in June and a marathon in November. I’m currently running twice a week ... in that semi-regular sort of way. Eventually, I will ramp up the training routine until I’m running about 15-18 miles a week in June. From there I’ll launch into marathon training.
Stats for the week : Baseline 5K: 32:13. Baseline 10K: 1:11:00 (roughly). Best time of the week: 33:31 (5K); 1:04:05 (10K). Best overall time: 26:57 (5K, June 7, 2009); 1:04:05 (10K, April 10, 2010). Miles within the last week: 9.3. Total miles for 2010: 55.4. Total miles since 2008: 352.1
RUNNING MP3 OF THE WEEK (That song that for whatever reason has a cadence that exactly matches the speed I was running this week.)
"Stole My Heart" by Little and Ashley. I was going to go with a different song this week, but after hearing this on the Amazon Kindle commercial and then seeing it was free on Amazon.com, I chose this one instead. Free music, enjoy!
News flash: Stretching actually works.
It turns out every P.E. teacher I ever had really wasn't just trying to burn 15 minutes of class every day before sending us to our early deaths on the dodgeball courts.
No really, I know. It's common sense. You need to stretch before performing any extended physical activity, just the same as you need to not put non-microwavable bowls in the microwave and leave the flammability tags on mattresses. I also floss every day and throw out most foods after they've reached their expiration dates.
But seriously, it can be hard enough carving out the time to exercise, much less making sure I'm loose and limber before starting.
Normally, I settle for pulling each foot up toward my back for 20 seconds, which must do something, because it hurts -- So that's what I do.
But after an atrocious run last Wednesday (33-plus minutes for a 5K), I deciced to change things up.
Granted, the run was with the stroller, but I felt awful the whole time. The boy, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed his first time out on a run — meaning he didn't scream.
Anyway, before heading out for a 10K on Saturday, I thought I'd try out some stretches, most of which I learned in college while in the ... um, marching band. We stretched. You know, so we wouldn't get any cramps while scattering into the block "N" formation.
I gave it a good 20 minutes, in part because I was in no hurry to run six miles again.
But the crazy thing is, it worked. Kind of.
I cut nearly seven minutes off my time from the week before, despite keeping the same generally poor diet during the week and not really adding anything resembling a fitness routine.
Even not considering the drop in time, I felt better during the run, instead of feeling like I was running on a pair of rusty, overwound springs.
So in addition to the training runs, I'm going to take up this novel new stretching routine on a regular basis and pretend like it'll keep shaving seven minutes off my times every week.
Also, the Run for the River Marathon in Folsom has been set for November 13. This is my target marathon. If I really wanted to dedicate myself to this, I'd stick my chin up and register for it now. But I'm not going to. Not yet.
Plan this week is for a 10K on Wednesday (we'll see) and a 10K on Saturday.
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