I'm back...

I went running for the first time today in about two months. I do have an excuse - I was away in South America for six weeks, and especially at the high altitudes, it was enough work just walking up the street. I do think that being in condition helped me to adjust. Now that I'm home and settled back in, I can start a normal routine again.

I took it easy today - about 30 minutes, half running and half walking.

almost at my first short term goal

I wasn't going to run outside today, but then my parents returned from their walk and said that it was beautiful. I had just enough daylight left, so I went for it. I try to run outside whenever possible, because let's face it, no one runs a marathon on a treadmill.

I could have gotten to my first real goal tonight. That goal is to run for 30 minutes without stopping. I can definitely do 30 minutes - probably more - but the "without stopping" part is the stumbling block. And I could have done it tonight, but right around 28 minutes, my legs started to hurt. I decided to slow down before I injured myself. If I had a job where I sat around all day, that would be one thing, but I am generally on my feet, which would just exacerbate anything bad that I did to my legs during a workout. So I cooled it.

I'm happy about coming this far in such a short amount of time. I'll probably have to start all over when I get back from traveling this summer, but I am seeing that it is taking me less time to build up stamina than it probably did in the past. I think I could definitely do at least a 5K in the fall.

Once I hit the 30-minute mark, I'll start going for 5K distance. Which means I'm going to have to lengthen my workout a bit.

successful session

Ran in the gym with the broken air conditioner. Tough going for a while, but I was able to do 2.45 miles in about 30 minutes - my total time running is slowly creeping up. I find that if I can hit certain milestones during the run, psychologically it's easier to keep going. I can tell myself, "OK, there are ten minutes left" or "If I can just make it until the end of this song..." Before you know it, the workout time is up and I've made it, often feeling like I could keep going.

I love it when the gym is totally empty. Then I can sing along to whatever I'm listening to. Someone came in about 2/3 of the way through, so I had to stop.

Before I leave for my trip this summer my goal is to work up to running 30 minutes non-stop. When I get back in August, I can try to work up to longer workouts.

getting used to summer heat

The last two runs I've done, I've been affected by the increasing heat. I'm not out at the hottest part of the day, but still encountering temperatures in the mid-70s. I will have to start making sure that I bring plenty of water out with me and probably go at a slower speed for a while. It hasn't helped that I've had a cold - so I am getting winded more easily because I can't breathe normally. This will probably work itself out in a few weeks or so. I doubt I'm going to be doing much running when I'm abroad, especially at high altitudes, but it'll be still August when I get back - enough time to get back into working out in a higher temperature and building up my endurance in that respect.

doing well

The last two runs I've done about 20 minutes straight, and I've been able to speed up as I go along. I keep reminding myself not to overdo it. I could probably do about 30 minutes without stopping if I pushed myself. Maybe by next week.

slight roadblock

I was sick yesterday - went home from work early with a slight fever, shakes, dizziness, and dehydration. So I missed a workout, and I think in the interest of a complete recovery I should postpone it another day.

Drat. Had a nice long run over the weekend too.

best workout ever!

Ran in the park this morning - very breezy and downright cold at first. Early in the morning, so the sun got stronger as I went. I started out very moody and crampy and generally feeling like crap, and left feeling like I could have kept going for hours and was quite upbeat.

Started off walking a lap, then ran 7 laps consecutively. (On this track, 3.5 laps = about a mile.) On about lap 6, I thought, "Hmm, I am getting a little tired, I could stop soon," but then I hit the beginning of 7 and thought, "Hmm, okay, looks like I'm still going!" I even thought about going one more, but then decided that I am probably going to want to run again tomorrow (a much lighter run probably) and I don't want to overdo it. So I walked a few more laps instead. I did about 2 miles running and 1 mile walking.

Took a nice hot bath and soaked my muscles - not sore much at all.

I don't always believe all the hype about exercise, but it really did scrape me up off the floor today. I can completely see how people enjoy running for hours. (Good thing too, because it will take me many hours to run 26.2 miles.)

And being able to increase my stamina this quickly is giving me hope that I really will be able to do this thing - run an entire marathon.