just got back after spending a week off from both exercising and dieting. and miraculously did not gain any weight!! i couldn't believe it. i did about 5K sprint intervals last night and they were pretty rough. tomorrow i am scheduled for my long run (6 miles) but i'm wondering if maybe i should just stick with the 5K sprint intervals until i'm back in the rhythm of things.

GOt 3 more miles yesterday. GOing for 4 miles today. I did 4-1/2 last saturday ....so It shouldn't be too bad. But I will be resting thursday and friday for my saturday long run (5 miles).

How is everyone?

SHinanigans, Anne, MBN how are you guys?

Hi Cakebatter - I'm good!!

Life has been busy: DS #1 is graduating from high school on Friday, so we've been going through the senior prom, grad night, all that stuff. We're evaluating a summer "away" camp for DS #2 that sounds very interesting. DH and I are going to slip out for a kayaking weekend in the Keys while the boys are away at Sr Hi youth retreat for a couple of days. My washer died and had to be replaced. You know -- stuff!!

I still managed to get in 20+ miles last week, although I bailed on my 12 mile planned long run and only did about 6.5. Rainy season has kicked in full blast, so I did my Sunday long run on the treadmill, and an hour is about my TM tolerance limit! This is "off season" for me, no races until fall, so right now I'm just trying to maintain my base, and maybe do some speed and hill work later in the summer to try to get a little faster. I'm doing a lot of cross training, swimming, and gearing up for vacation hiking and backpacking.

I recently joined 24hour fitness, with a great deal from Costco ($300 for 2 years!). Mostly I joined for the lap pool, but I've been having fun trying out other things too. I went to belly dancing class a couple of times, I'm not very good at it, but it sure is a good core work out! I don't care what I look like anyway, as long as I'm moving and having fun!

The swimming is improving gradually, and who knows, maybe someday I'll get up the nerve to train for a tri. (oops, did I say that out loud?)

hello you all,
would love to join you and am looking forward to the coming months with you all...

and...i have a question:
how crazy is it to sign up for the 5K run at the san francisco marathon, july 26th? it is in 9 weeks. i have just started the program.

i just feel the need to work towards a goal (besides feeling so much better since i started working out again!).

would love to hear your thoughts! thanks, willow

wow! so, wednesday is meant to be my long run day - supposed to be 6 miles. what an epic disaster that was!!! normally when i go for a run, things start out a little rocky but within one mile i hit my stride. if i'm doing a long run and not sprints or running for time, i just kinda zone out for the duration and it's all reasonably painless, more or less. BUT, every once in a while i instead of hitting my stride, things just go from bad to worse. and today sure was a doozy! even by a quarter mile i was struggling really hard and my heart rate was way higher than normal for that speed and how far in i was. i kept going slower and slower and eventually had to stop and walk before even hitting 3 miles. and then i could only walk a 1/2 mile before stopping entirely cause i felt like i was going to vomit.
i just don't understand why this happens. i'm not overworking myself. i take at least a day off between runs. i stretch copiously. ate the same stuff i always eat. drank the same stuff i always drink. but maaaan, i still feel horrible. i couldn't even do weights or situps or any of the normal stuff i like to do after a 3 miler. now i'm just laying on the couch contemplating whether or not i can even stomach dinner.
dear body, what on earth is going on????!!!

And Willow, I'm going to defer to one of the others since I haven't done that program or every started 100% from scratch. However, my instinct is that if you train for it, then it's totally possible, but I think it depends a lot on what your fitness level is to start with.

Welcome! Signing up for a 5K isn't crazy at all! Lots of people have the misconception that to "run" a 5K, that means you have to run every single step or it doesn't count. That's just not true! Participation is what counts. You could walk the entire 3.1 miles, or run part of it and walk the rest, or run/walk in intervals, OR run the whole thing. Anything is perfectly acceptable and you will see many people doing all of the above. You will see people of ALL sizes, shapes, abilities and speed participating.

So the question is .. can you walk 3.1 miles right now? If you can, then you can do a 5K - right now! As you work on your running, you'll be able to increase your percentage of time running versus walking, and get faster.

So yes, go for it. Races are great fun! And, habit-forming!

SWS19 - boy, have I had those days and it could be any one of several things. The usual suspects are: overtraining, fueling, hydration, or coming down with something. My first thought is the latter, maybe you're coming down with a bug or ate something that didn't agree with you. There's still a lot of virus's making the rounds! Another thought is if the weather has turned hot all of a sudden, you may not be acclimated to the temperature (you have to slow down significantly in hot weather) and you have to really hydrate before, during and after your run. How you fuel, hydrate, and workout the day before is just as important as the day of -- if you've worked much harder than usual or fueled less the day before it can affect your run.

I hope you're feeling better!

Hi guys. I blew my back out picking up DS (11 months old) on Sunday. I've been sort of desperately trying to get myself together to salvage my triathlon on Monday. I think it is going to happen.

sws19 I have bad runs sometimes for no reason whatsoever. Just days where nothing is working. I also have bad runs for all the known reasons MBN listed, and others including lack of sleep and cutting too many calories/carbs. But once in a while, everything is right, and the legs just say uh uh anyway.

Anne

Sws, I'm inclined to agree with the other ladies. Some days, runs are just bad. I can usually tell within the first five minutes as to whether or not I'll be struggling with the run. Usually a previous bad night's sleep or my allergies seem to be the culprit, but sometimes there is nothing obvious to blame. We all have them!

Running has been awesome this week. I've done 2 miles every day since Sunday... had what felt like the best run of my life yesterday but was cut short by rain..boo! Today MUST be a rest day. I usually take a day off in between but I just felt so good every day that I just kept running. Oh well. Will run the 5k tomorrow and Saturday is hiking!

thank you! will sign up today, and i think i'll do their "progressive marathon" because i will train enough to be able to get those miles down by july 26th.

yes, i can easily walk for 3.1 miles and more. thanks for the encouragement!!!

i think you ladies are definitely right. every once in a while these things just happen. and i usually know within 3 minutes whether it's gonna be a struggle or not. i just wish i knew why. i am pretty routine so i hadn't done anything really different that day or the day prior. gonna give it another whirl today. but i'm only setting my goal at around 4 miles so as not to disappoint myself as much, if it comes to that.

I started the C25K this week so I just finished day three I think I am going to repeat week one, the route I run is mostly uphill so I think going to two minutes of running this soon wouldn't be so smart. I am really trying to keep upbeat about this and not burn out and avoid shin splints.

I think a 5K would be really fun someday but my current goal is to get up this one hill without getting winded.

BellaDiva, I have problems with hills, too.. and unfortunately I live in a very hilly area! Kudos to you...the more you do something, the easier it will get!

Yesterday was a true rest day, but today it is 5k run. It's a nice, cool 65 here so it should be a good run this afternoon.

well finally all moved except for a llittle cleaning. and the new place has a basement to put my weights and treadmill in so i've been taking advantage and using the treadmill as much as possible. need to get back into, to long without the treadmill.

I had really busy week with work and other stuff so I haven't checked in for a while, but I just wanted to pop in to say I finished my first half marathon yesterday and it went great. I think my training served me well. I got a great (for me) time at 2:13:33! I was trying to push myself a little but keep a reasonable pace, I didn't have to stop for any walk breaks and didn't have any problems really. And I don't even feel very sore today, just like after any long training run. I might even do this again some day.