rammingspeed

[rammingspeed]

2.5 miles

Took an extended break the last few days because I've been waking up in not the best shape. I've just been feeling off, not obviously sick but not feeling healthy either. It's hard to tell if I've kicked it or if it's just allergies. Felt pretty good this morning so decided to go for it, but went the lighter route.

I ran without stopping the whole 26ish minutes, which was a nice accomplishment! Although I did know that I didn't have to run another ten-ish minutes after so that may have helped me not feel the need to stop. Pace was around 10:45.

I'm hoping to do another 3+ mile run on Thursday!

[rammingspeed]

3.2 miles

Well the every other day thing lasted exactly a day... Woke up Wednesday feeling horrible so ended up moving my run to Thursday. There was a lot of wild fire smoke around wed morning as well, and things were nice and clear this morning, so it worked out. It was even a bit less humid than usual so I went a bit faster than I have been. Still walked for a minute around the 21st minute.

Spent a surprising amount of time in cardio today, I guess I paced myself pretty wall on the initial uphill. Felt pretty good! Not sure if I'll run Saturday or Sunday, may just have to go with the weather.

[rammingspeed]

2.5 miles

Rain kept me from doing my normal Sunday morning run so switching to a M/W/F thing this week. Might just keep up the 'run every other day' thing, see how long it lasts. Just a short-ish one today, instead of going all the way around, just did a quick out/in the way I used to go, no breaks (although I did have to stop briefly at an intersection on the way back). Apparently my regular pace now is just somewhere close to an 11 min mile. I can't tell if I'm just better at pacing myself or if the heat is slowing me down. I'm kind of hoping its the heat. I actually might find out quite soon since I'll be going to Australia and New Zealand at the end of July where it's "winter" there, so my runs will be in much cooler weather. I've been hearing it's highs of low 60s. Excited to take some awesome trail pics for the blog lol

See ya Wednesday!

[rammingspeed]

Greenwood Cemetery - 3.22 miles

Did a similar run to last time but managed to scrape off .04 miles, oops! I went a lot slower this time around (avg was a bit over 11 minute miles), I think just naturally slowed down because it was so hot/humid out. Was definitely wanting some water by the time I was rounding out 30 minutes. I stopped to walk for a minute around the 25 minute mark will probably aim for the 27 minute mark or maybe even the 30 minute mark on Sunday.

[rammingspeed]

Greenwood Cemetery - 3.26 miles

Ran around the cemetery again, but the opposite direction and it was so much easier! The big uphill is all over at the start, followed by a super long downhill, then the run that I'm used to back home. I was surprised to see how much of the run I was in peak for since I felt really good the whole run and averaged around 10:30 the whole time. I'm no longer following any sort of plan, I think my "plan" is to just run around the cemetery and see if I can get to a point where I'm running the whole time (I stopped to walk around the 20 minute mark today).

[rammingspeed]

Brooklyn Bridge Park - 3.1 miles

The weather held off and I was able to go to the piers and run the park run course! It wasn't official but I tried to stick to the route from the map as much as I could. My final distance was around 3.2 so I think I did pretty well! I let myself stop to walk and take pictures a few times.

I ended up running very slowly near the end, so maybe I should have walked more. It was also extremely humid, so that didn't help.

Getting to and from was super easy though! A bus right by my apartment took me all the way there (and subsequently back) in about half an hour. Was home right before 11am! Not something I can do on a normal day without waking up really early, but maybe some special run I'll do on the weekend sometimes.

[rammingspeed]

20min run kinda

I thought today would be so easy but then the heat punched me in the face and I couldn't even get through a 20 minute run. It also didn't help that my calves are still recovering from Tuesday's adventure. I got about 15 minutes through and then walked a bit, then ran about 30secs-1min more to a nearby bus stop, then walked the rest of the way. It didn't feel great to give up on what was supposed to be an easy run, but I needed to do it. Hopefully by Sunday I will be ready to handle the heat again. Although it's possible that run will be rained out. If not, I may head up to Brooklyn Bridge Park and run around the piers for a little bday run gift to myself :)

[rammingspeed]

30min run

it was HOT today. Ended the 30 minutes creating a huge uphill with barely any shade. The loop around the cemetery is not for the faint of heart I'll tell ya hwat. Went really fast on my first mile and probably too fast for a good chunk of my second mile so by the time I was on the third mile, which was pretty much all uphill, I was fading. Tried not to look at my watch but did a bit after 26 minutes, which was my second longest non-interval run after this one. I can't stop thinking about how brutal that last uphill was though dang. If I was going truly all the way around I'd actually end on about half a mile of downhill but since I wasn't actually doing that last half mile I ended on the big bad sunny hill. Brutal. I actually walked for a minute or so after and then ran for another minute or two just to end a bit after 3 full miles, since it was downhill by then. If I pace myself better maybe the hill won't be as bad. It's not super duper steep, just the combination of hill and sun and the length of the hill is killer. Maybe I just need a nice rainy/gloomy day.

Anyway, since it's a holiday today my partner and I went for a drive upstate and did a 5ish mile hike that was also a lot of sunny uphill, but the end was shady downhill (which was buggy but my body felt better). Needless to say I was drenched in sweat for a lot of today.

Looking forward to a nice easy 20 minute run on Thursday!

[rammingspeed]

20min run/1min walk + 1min hard run + 2min walk x 2.5

I confused myself with the directions for my run this morning, it says "repeat 2 times" and I don't know if that means two "more" times or just "do it" two times so I decided to do the 1min hard/2min walk 2 times then maybe add a third depending on how tired I was and how far I had left to go before I reached where I started. I ended up doing the third but my heart wasn't really in it, I was pretty tired, so I kinda half assed it. But the rest of my run was no half-assing, sneakers to the pavement, we ran, we sweat, we did it. My pacing was even decent!

My next run is 30 minutes non-stop so I think I'm going to see how far I get around the cemetery. I want to try to run all the way around it this up-coming Sunday (with maybe a small walk break in there) but I have never even gotten halfway around it before turning back before so I need to scope out the situation. And maybe after I'll finally sign up for strava or something so I can see where other people run!

I've also decided not to go for an 'up your 5k speed' training yet, I don't think I'm quite ready. A lot of them include runs for as long as an hour, which I've never gotten close to. I might try a beginner 5k to 10k training plan, or just try to do 30min runs a few times a week until I get bored. I'll be traveling in August so probably best not to have too much of a rigid training plan since my schedule will be thrown askew. I will keep running though, that's the main plan.

See you Tuesday!

[rammingspeed]

26min run

my first non-interval run! (Not counting the 5k of course) I think I paced myself pretty well. What I'm finding now is that the end of my runs are grueling because I know I'm close to ending but I'm on an uphill and I inevitably look at my watch to see how much time I have left... I'm not sure how to fix the problem. If I go the opposite direction around the cemetery I'll be starting on a huge uphill, which isn't really ideal either. Maybe I'll give it a shot though. My final week of runs are all non-interval but some are only 20 minutes so I may not hit 2 miles. Anyway this run felt good and I haven't felt that hip pain I was having when I started since before my race, so feeling good about my progress.

[rammingspeed]

15min run/1min walk + 1min hard run/2min walk x 3

Well mentally it was hard to get myself out the door today and it was so humid out! I was surprised to find that I actually spent most of the run in Cardio, but I definitely was taking it a bit easier because I wasn't feeling 100% and the weather was not helping. Thursday is just a straight run, no intervals, so hopefully I'm feeling better by then and the weather chills out a bit (that second part is not likely, but one can dream).

[rammingspeed]

20min run + 1min walk + 6min run

Pretty much the same run as last time. I tried to keep an eye on my pace. I think I did better at staying even than last time but Fitbit is being weird so I can't see my official splits on the app right now... Ended pretty winded though so I probably took the end hill too fast. I'm really itching to go further around the cemetery than I've been going but these runs have been shorter than my previous program since the running length is longer. Still aiming to go around the cemetery at the end of this mini-program I made for myself.

[rammingspeed]

19min run + 1min walk + 7min run

I have a problem, and that is my runs start out downhill, and I feel really good, so I go really fast, and then my run goes uphill, around the .6 mile mark. But I'm still going fast, because I was going fast before. And I have a really hard time slowing myself down. By the time I feel like I need to slow down I also feel like I'm going slow anyway. It's a conundrum.

Anyhow, my first mile today was under 10 minutes, and my second was over 11. Now the second mile did include a minute of walking, but I'd like to be more consistent.

It was very lightly raining today during my run, and that felt pretty nice. I'm dreading the peak of summer runs but maybe I'll be out of town for most of it. Next run is Sunday, see you then!

[rammingspeed]

17min run/1min walk + 1min hard run/2min walk x 2

Skipped my Sunday run because traveling just takes a lot out of me and I really needed to catch up on my sleep. Finally back to my regular schedule for a while! Today's run was easy so I really went hard on the two little hard run/walk stuff. Feeling a bit off today, I don't think it has anything to do with the run, just kinda down and maybe stressed about work. Tried out my new shoes again, this time with a bandaid over where I got a blister before. Worked well. My dad recommended sticking with them vs switching to a stabilizer shoe so I'm gonna give them through my trip probably. I think I like them, they feel fine when running, walking around in them just feels a bit weird.

Not much more to say than that, catch ya Thursday!

[rammingspeed]

13min run/1 min walk x 2

I couldn't run yesterday like I was supposed to, too crazy of a day. But I was able to convince my parents and partner to drive out to the forest preserve this morning. They walked and I ran, then turned around partway so I would run into them again and walk back all together.

The run was fun and scenic, and so flat! I'm used to my usual hilly run around the cemetery so I ended up going way too fast the first mile, I was under 10 min. Then I slowed down significantly for the second 30 minutes. Still under 11 minute mile but my pace was close to 10:40 the whole time and it definitely felt harder because I went too hard the first half. Lessons learned!

My parents were both runners so they had some advice about running shoes for me but my mom said my form was great!

We'll see if I get out to run Sunday like I'm supposed to. If I do it will be later than usual when we are back home. Also the smoke is supposed to come back soon... I hope not for long, I'm a bit worried about it.

I'm gonna try to post pictures from my runs when they are different from my usual location. Here's the first, taken by my mom:

[rammingspeed]

12min run + 1min run hard/2min walk x 4

I am starting a new plan! This time it's another couch to 5k 6 week program but it has some solid 20min to 30 min runs near the end so I'm hoping it will help me get to running 30 minutes non-stop, as that is my next goal! I cut out the first 2 weeks of the plan and modified the 3rd week to give me an extra rest day after my race, so today was the first day of the new plan!

This plan also incorporates some speed intervals, so I got to try my hand at running real fast for short bursts today. The first 12 minutes were alright, I was a bit more tired than I expected by the time I got to the top of the hill that usually hits around the 8-9 minute mark. My first mile time was maybe a little faster than it needed to be (10:37) given the hill. The intervals were fun, but too much walking, I really let it loose at the end, and it was also uphill, so was not quite feeling that way about the walking by the end, but that's what the end is for, right?

The best news of all is that my hip doesn't hurt at all! I think the rest days around the race really helped, and this lighter-than-normal run didn't push it, hopefully this is the end of my hip woes.

My next run will be my first out of town run, since I'll be away for my sister's wedding. Hopefully I have nice, safe places to run nearby. From what I can tell there's a lot of roads just for a few nearby hotels that shouldn't be too busy. Won't be very scenic though. We actually aren't too far from a forest preserve but I won't have a car. Maybe I can find a way to get there anyway. Stay tuned!

[rammingspeed]

Brooklyn Pride 5k!

Location: Prospect Park

Time: 32:39.72

We made it folks! The race this morning went off without a hitch. I saw a friend there, my partner was there to cheer me on, couldn't have asked for a better morning really :) The race itself went really well! I kept pretty decent pace at around 10:40/mile and finished just under 33 minutes. My goal going in was to run at least to the big giant hill that I knew was in the course and then depending on how I was feeling either run or walk up it. I got to the big hill, ran up it, then stopped for about 30 seconds, and finished up the race. The hill was at around the 2 mile mark, I think from my stats I started walking around the 24 minute mark, so I can run 24 minutes without stopping! And that was with a big ass hill that starts like 3/4 mile back and is worst at the end so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. That last mile was definitely tough, I maybe should have walked longer and got my heart rate down a bit, but I'm still really proud of myself and my time, and I did have enough energy to really sprint the last 100 meters toward the finish. I think I could have run the whole time if the hill was not involved, since I was feeling so good before hand!

I decided the first thing I'd like to focus on is being able to run 30 minutes non-stop. Then I will focus on speeding up my 5k time. Hopefully somewhere in there I will be able to regularly run around the cemetery (3.5miles). I'm excited for what is to come on my running journey!