Hills and Getting Sick

Ugh. Just ugh.

Sunday's run was interesting, to say the least. I was in Bourne, TX visiting my college roommate's family. Aside from getting a crappy night's sleep and the cold (it felt at least 50*, maybe colder), it was HILLY.

I'd never done hills before. They kicked my ass.

I did a loop that was a little under 3 miles, and ended up walking a mile of it (including warm up/cool down). The really steep hills were walked because I didn't want to accidentally pull a muscle or (more likely) trip and fall. I stopped a couple of times to take some pictures because it was absolutely beautiful. During the entire hour or so I was out there I only had maybe 4 cars pass me, and saw far more deer. The pics are a little dark, but hey, it was early still.

From Untitled Album

From Untitled Album

From Untitled Album

Fast forward to this morning. I've been sick for the last couple of days. Not an awful kind of sick, it's just a mild cold. I got myself up early this morning not knowing if I would be ready to run after 3 days of congestion, but I tried. My hamstrings and shins are still sore from the hills and I'm still stupidly tired. I didn't get very far. I have about 10 days until the 5k and want to get in a 4 miler before that. Hopefully I can knock that out on Friday or Saturday, depending on how I feel.

Postponed long run

*long sigh*

My 4 miles on Tuesday didn't turn out so hot. It was pretty much a non-run. My hip just wasn't letting me run. It was tight or sore or something and caused me to limp along for about a quarter of a mile before I decided to postpone. Maybe I ran on it funny on Saturday? I'm not sure.

I let my hip rest until today when I did a mile and a half. That didn't go so well either and I ended up walking when I shouldn't have. My stomach cramped up pretty wickedly, and I got one hell of a stitch that made me quit altogether. Maybe it was because all I ate before running was a little cheese. I'm not used to the cooler weather, either.

Bleh. It doesn't matter because I'm redoing last week. Today was 2 miles (more or less), Sunday will be 3, and Wednesday or so will be 4.

A Step Back

I was supposed to do a mellow 3 miles today, but it just wasn't happening. More lack of motivation and shins that were killing me for some reason prevented me from finishing successfully. I only managed 2 miles running with lots of walking sprinkled in. I'm going to take a step back in my new program and repeat last week. The thought of doing 3 miles is still daunting, and I need to get to the point where I can do 2 easily. Unfortunately, I know I can do it, I'm just not for some reason.

2 days from now I'll be doing 2 miles instead of 4, but hopefully I'll find the motivation to do some cycling or wii fit tomorrow.

Couch to 5k: W7D3

Well, today was the first day I counted miles instead of minutes and boy, it was rough. Usually I can go about a mile before the thought of walking crosses my mind, but today was just miserable. I only got about half a mile before I started to feel it, but managed to push through to 2 full miles. I did stop for a few seconds (maybe 20?) for a stop light twice, though.

I accidentally went a little too fast during a portion of the run, I think that's where I went wrong. Another runner caught up with me at a street light and I subconsciously ran a little faster than I should have. I need to pay more attention to that, it'll be bad news at a race one of these days.

I had a distance and one mile PR today, so that's something. I'll be redoing the same run on Saturday since week 8 is 28 minutes. It took me 30 minutes to go 2 miles, so I figure I shouldn't increase my mileage for another week or so. I don't want to overdo it when I'm making such awesome progress.

(Edit) Oh, and today was the first day it actually felt like it could be fall next month! There was even a cool breeze! I'll be glad when it finally gets cool enough for me to run in the late afternoon before I make dinner for the family.