Workout Roundup (02/18/13 - 02/24/13)

It's Wednesday. 

It's raining. 

It's finally time I talk about my awesome week of working out that I had last week! I honestly don't know what has taken me so long to get this post done. Well who am I kidding, work gets crazy, life gets crazy and before you know it, you have run out of hours in a day.

So let's get down to business.  According to Daily Mile I had a Super week of training last week.
Side note: Uh, you think it's time to change out my mug shot? Me thinks I do!

Anyhoo, Daily Mile doesn't take into consideration if I do any cross training or weight work, this is all running, so I am happy with the Super for my running effort! 

I of course decided to become an over achiever this past week and decided to try and kick things up a notch. I even snapped daily pictures to document my efforts (Instagram: angelny29).

Here's the nitty gritty:

Monday, February 18, 2013 (Presiden't Day - NO WORK)
Run - Astoria Park Track - 4.02 miles (43:46)

Since I had the day off from work, and was all alone, I decided to hit up my local track around 11:30 A.M. for a little runsy that ended in 4 miles. The temps were fra-fra-freezing. We're talking a "Feel Like Temp" of 13 degrees with some major winds coming off the water. But it all worked out in the end. I wore my Pearl Izumi Wind Blocking jacket with 2 long sleeve layers underneath. All was good as if you couldn't tell in my post-run bliss picture above.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Run - Treadmill - 400s - 3.25 miles (34:01)

It was back to work and back to business. I hit up the gym during lunch and knocked out a little run which consisted of 400m intervals. I managed to complete 6-400s for a total of 3.25 miles.

After work is where I first changed my workout up a bit.

P.M. Workout - Strength Training / Abs

A couple weekends ago I asked Mr. B to take me over to my storage unit because I wanted to retrieve my set of dumb bells so I could do exactly what I did on Tuesday night. I completed a Shoulder/Bicep circuit workout and finished up with some Abs. It was nice to see that I burned an easy 150 calories in the 30 minutes.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Run - Treadmill - 3.5 miles (35:56)

Pinks and I (mad lurve for my Reebok's) headed to the gym treadmill at lunch again and knocked out a speedy run. 

Today I completed my first ever 3.5 mile run during lunch! This made me extremely happy. The most I have ever completed was a 3.25 mile and that was because I was including intervals.

I completed this feat by increasing my speed by .1 after the first .25 miles and then another .1 after another .75 miles and then kept repeating this until I hit 3 miles. Then after that I increased my speed by .1 then again after .25 miles. I believe the last quarter mile I ran was at a 6.3.

P.M. Workout - Step Aerobics DVD

In addition to dusting off my free weights from storage, I also purchased an Aerobic Step. Back in the 90's I loved Step Aerobics! It's an awesome workout and can burn some awesome calories. After work I knocked out an old school step workout with my friend Gilad and blasted 469 calories. 

Thursday, February 21, 2013
Rest 

Friday, February 22, 2013
Run - Treadmill - 800s - 3.5 miles (35:27)

Since my 400s workouts have been going so well over the past few weeks, I decided that I would attempt 800s during my lunch time run and knocked out another 3.5 miles. I must say that I am in love with 800s! 

Saturday, February 23, 2013
Rest 

Sunday, February 24, 2013
Long Run - Rockefeller State Park Preserve - 8 miles (01:40:20)

It felt super awesome to be back running on the trails. Mr. B and I haven't been for a month and a half due to sickness and nasty weather, but Sunday we were back at it. We had to modify our course a bit due to patches of ice and big sloshes of mud puddles, but it was all worth it. I was aiming for a 6 mile run and left with 8 miles under my belt and yes that is a big pile of snow behind my wrist.

In summary, this past weeks workout was amazing for me. I managed to complete 5 days of running for a total distance of 22.27 miles.

I also incorporated a bit of strength training and a cross training workout. I am planning on continuing to mix things up with some of my DVDs and will continue to strive for running at least 4 days a week. 

So tell me, do you work out with DVDs?

Back in the 90s into early 2000, I was an avid user of home workout DVD's, but they were VHS tapes then. It was an awesome way to get a workout in without the major expense of a gym membership. 

If so, what's in your home collection?

My collection includes 3-4 Jillian Michaels DVDs, 2 Gilad DVDs and a new DVD that is suppose to mimic attending a Ballet Barre class. I will share more about that after I give it a whirl.

5 Weeks and Once Bitten

It's hard to believe that the NYC Marathon is in less than 5 weeks! I have been training my heart out for 11 weeks now and haven't let anything stop me. I ran through the entire month of August sick as a dog with a sinus infection. I ran the past couple of weeks with lower back pain and praying that my current regiment of icing and stretching keeps it in check. This week Daily Mile congratulated me with an Epic week of training!

I hit peak training a couple of weeks ago, but since I had the back pain I had to scale back my runs during the week in hopes of hitting my long run mileage.  So far so good even though I haven't hit the 30+ total miles for the past 2 weeks.

With this past week being another modified running week, I have managed to keep my back pain in check with icing 2 times a day and lots of stretching. My long run on Sunday was only suppose to be a 10 miler, but since I was feeling so good I turned it into a 13 miler!

I really wanted, and had the energy, to hit a total of 15 miles but I stopped at 13 because I ran out of hydration. I only planned for 10 and managed to make what I brought with me to last the extra 3 miles. I came close to hitting the 31 miles total for the week, just 2 shy.

I really love completing my Sunday long runs up at Rockefeller State Park Preserve. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place to be. I've said in past posts how I have seen chipmunks, turkeys and many a deer! 

I also see a lot of dogs! I love dogs. I have never met a dog that didn't like me. Well at least until this past weekend and one bit me. Yes, you read correctly. I had a dog bite me on Sunday. I am still shocked from it because it was not my fault and I don't see how I could have done anything different. Let me just say I am fine. No skin was broken or blood drawn on my arm. I am just bruised and sore on my tricep and bicep where the dog got a hold of me.

I am really upset at the owner of the dog. She was barely concerned and acted like it was no big deal. I wanted to tell her that she shouldn't be out on the trails with 3 dogs she can't control where there are many runners and children. 

Here is what happened...

I was running along the trail and noticed this woman with her 3 dogs. There was a little white dog, a little brown dog and a big black/brown dog. As I am running towards them I notice how the little white dog and big black/brown dog are tugging her to the left of the trail and how the little brown dog is tugging her to the right of the trail. I am thinking to myself as I am running towards them that this might be a problem for me because I felt she wasn't really in control of her dogs. As I get closer I am formulating my plan of action of how best to pass them. The owner is aware of me. She has looked back at me and can hear me coming. She knows I will be passing her and her little collection of doggies. Another 2 runners come from the opposite direction and pass the dogs with no problem. Not one of them pays the runners any attention. I am thinking this is good for me and they will be like all the other dogs I have encountered in the park. 

So I am getting closer and getting ready to pass the dogs. I have moved myself to the far left of the trail to get as from away from them as possible. As I am passing the little white dog looks at me and jumps out towards my legs/feet, thus pulling the owner and the big black/brown dog towards me on the left of the trail. I react by skipping more to the left to avoid being tripped by the white dog when all of a sudden the big black/brown dog jumps over little white dog and next thing I feel is a paw on my right shoulder and a pain on my tricep.

The owner of these dogs manages to pull her dogs off of me and says she is sorry and asks if I am ok. The way she reacted was NOT one of "Oh My Gosh My Dogs Are All Over You And One Just Bit You Are You OK?". She was so nonchalant that it was like her dog had done something like this before. My reaction was to access my arm to make sure I wasn't bleeding, which I wasn't, and then to tell her "Yes I think I am ok, but your dog just bit me!" Her response was, as long as your ok!

Fortunately for me I was wearing a long sleeve shirt because it was a bit cold out at first. If I had decided to just wear my short sleeve shirt I believe the dog would have broken skin. When I got home and looked at my arm, you could see the place on my tricep and the place on my bicep where the dog had gotten me. The spots are pretty close together and that just tells me how big the dogs mouth was because it grabbed my arm from behind under the tricep. Right now I have 2 bruises that are very tender to show for the dogs loving affection for me. I'm suck a lucky girl!

Here's to another week of training!!!

18 Miles of Bliss?

Week 10 of marathon training has been complete, however it doesn't resemble exactly what was on my schedule. I was suppose to complete a total of 36 miles for the week with an 18 mile long run on Sunday. However, this past week my body had its own idea of what it was going to allow me to do. 

What I was suppose to do:

Monday: 3 miles, Cross-Train or Rest

Tuesday: 5 miles

Wednesday: 4 miles

Thursday: 6 miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 18 miles

Total Mileage - 36

What I actually did:

Monday: Cross-Train (30 minutes on bike trainer)

Tuesday: 3 miles

Wednesday: 3 miles

Thursday: 4 miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 18 miles

Total Mileage - 28

As you can see the mileage on Tuesday through Thursday didn't quite hit it's mark. Why? Well let's just say that a little lower back pain (S1 / Sciatica) on Tuesday reared it's ugly little head this week and the longer I ran the worse it got and started going down my right leg into my heel. I was really worried that I wouldn't get the 18 miles done on Sunday.

Well as it turned out, when Sunday came I got down to business and completed the run.

I didn't realize until today that I could include the elevation chart with the map from Daily Mile. It's pretty cool because you can see that from the start of my run the elevation begins at 300 feet and climbs close to 650 feet through Mile 2. I wasn't kidding when I said the first 2 to 3 miles were one serious hill climb. And let me just say that I love that beautiful decline in elevation from mile 3 to just past the 4th mile mark. My legs love this part of the recovery and I end up feeling strong into miles 5 and 6. Besides the first 3 miles the next hill I dread is at mile 11. It's one serious steady climb from around 225 feet to just over 400-450 feet. The past few weeks I have been able to run this hill without any grumbling or profanities escaping my mouth. Very proud of myself for that!

My splits show what kind of pace I was running. I keep having to tell myself that this is trail running so my pace it going to be slower than if I was on pavement.

So how was the pain? When I first started running I felt a twinge in my lower back and thought there was no way I was going to be able to complete the full 18 miles. However, within a few minutes the pain subsided and I was given some hope. 

I clocked the first 6 miles and hit the car for more hydration/potty break feeling pretty good. Clocked the next 6 miles and hit the car again for another round of hydration/another potty break (seriously need to re-evaluate my nutrition). Said hello to my honey and told him that I felt good, a bit tired and was feeling some lower back pain which intensified during the mile 11 climb. I was originally hoping to turn this 18 miles into a 20 mile run because I really want to be able to get a 22 mile run in before the marathon. So we decided that I was going to run the next 6 miles around the lake, which is relatively easy, and re-access the situation.

All motivated I went back out to finish my challenge. Mile 13 wasn't too bad. Mile 14 the pain in my back was saying hello. Mile 15 it was getting worse and I knew I would be lucky to get the 18 done, totally forgetting about 20. Mile 16 I was telling myself "Failure Is Not An Option." Mile 17 I was saying, "Run Fat Boy Run" (love that movie). Mile 18 the pain was pounding my back down my right leg to my heel. I was questioning how I would get to 26.2 on race day if I could barely eek out 18 with the pain. (Not to self: You can never ask those questions prior to and during a long run. You are not thinking clearly.) I clicked my Garmin for mile 18 in the parking lot next to the car. I immediately told my honey that I was done and I couldn't go for another 2 miles. I could barely bend over my back was so stiff. I spent a lot of time in the parking lot stretching and loosening things back up and as soon as I got home I started ice pack therapy on my back.

When all is said and done, I hit my goal of 18 miles. That's all my schedule was asking of me. I may not have hit the total miles for the week, and my long run may have suffered from it, but I did it. I will have to decide in a couple of weeks about the 22 mile run. Until then, I am working on icing, stretching and strengthening exercises in hopes of fixing this little problem. 

I am not sure how much, if at all, I will have to alter my training this week. I am taking today as a rest from running and may ride the bike trainer for 30 minutes after work just to shake my legs out. I am not in any major pain today. My lower back this morning was throbbing and stiff, but the discomfort is gone now. Tomorrow I will run on the track and see how it goes. Right now, I am hoping things will go well this week in the land of marathon training.