Cool! I’m running in mid-air!
P.S. I know my hair looks crazy. I was going to race, not socialize! 
P.P.S. Will my legs ever respond to weight training like my arms? I swear all of my body fat is stuck in my thighs and calves.
I know that the song of that title by Fiona Apple is old – but I still love it!
I ran the Save Our Skin 5K on Saturday and indeed ran as fast as I could. So fast that I beat my old 5K PR of 25:08 with an (unofficial as of today’s posting) time of 24:32! Yeah! My last 5K sucked so bad for me that this was definitely a redemptive race.
I’m realizing a 5K, while short in length, is one tough race for me. Everytime I run a 5K I never really enjoy it. The distance is too short for me to settle into my running groove, but too long to attempt to run really fast. I always feel like I am working at my max which just wears me out. In fact, according to my Polar my average heart rate during this race was at 90% of my max. I was pushing it hard! Maybe I am just meant to be more of a distance runner. When I read that the winner of the race had a time of less than 17 minutes I am honestly floored. How can anyone move that fast?!? I am still a running newbie, but I doubt that even 10 years from now I will be able manage that.
Unfortunately, if I want to continue to improve on my time I have to run super fast (for me anyway). I was aiming for about 24:38 based on my best 10K and half-marathon times. That meant a split time of 7:55/mile. Anytime I need to venture into the 7-minute territory for an extended period of time I get nervous! Once again though, those little charts proved right and I managed an average pace of 7:54/mile. It nearly killed me though. I swear I thought I was going to throw up in the last .1 miles (a first for me during exercise). I had to take a walk break a few times. I probably walked for 1:30 minute in bits and pieces wasting precious time. It was a good race though and I ran hard and improved more than I thought I could.
One of these days, I am going to use the FIRST plan to train for a 5K. I really want to be able to push myself on this distance without feeling like I am about to wipe out. I know I look all semi-blissful in the pic but I swear I thought was going to hurl.
Great Picture…Your arms look GREAT!!! Hmm I’m gonna look up the FIRST plan for running a 5K. Is tis a plan for advanced runners or novice as well. Looking it up…
you look so beautiful.
fit happy healthy free strong BEAUTIFUL.
Hey Fergie! Thanks! If you want a novice 5K plan I would do
Couch to 5K. You alternate walking and jogging each session and after 9 weeks you will be able to jog the whole distance (they say in 30 minutes). The FIRST plans are better if you’ve already been running a while and can easily cover more than the distance you are training for. For example, I’m using their 10K plan (6.2 miles) but I have to run quite a few 10 mile long runs.
Awww – thanks so much MizFit!
You do look great! Congrats on the time – that is superfast!
Just curious, do you work a full time job and still find the time for two sessions a day? Do you ever worry you are overtraining at all? Is your current schedule a short-term plan or a “maintenance” plan?
Thanks!
I still cannot believe you are a runner now. You scoffed at me when I first suggested you run!
This pic is awesome and I love your hair flowing instead of in a bun.
I absolutely scoffed! But seriously, going to your first half-marathon was something of an inspiration in retrospect (even though I didn’t know it at the time)! And oh how I wish that I didn’t have to rock the bun on the regular, especially now that my hair has grown. Alas – it is only growing because I am not blowdrying and curling it every single day. A Catch-22.