Week 2ish

Some workout notes:

• Last weekend's long run was kind of a bust.  Developed a stitch that wouldn't go away around mile 3.  Spent a lot of time walking and jogging slowly; got to the point where it was bearable but I could still feel it.  I was a little bummed but things had been going so smoothly and sometimes you just need to be reminded that you are not in control; your body has needs and it will tell you whether you like it or not.  On the plus side, I did make it to 7 miles and my time wasn't completely awful.
• My Tuesday workout this week was speed intervals.  5+5 warmup as usual, and then starting at 5.5 mph, alternate 45 seconds of faster running with 30-45 seconds of slower pace (for me, 5mph).  Work up slowly with each interval until you can't do it anymore.  For me this was around 7.2 mph (I kind of did a big burst at the end and slowed down gradually).  The workout this is based on is supposed to alternate walking with running but it's too hard to do that transition gracefully on many treadmills.  I then ran for another 10 minutes at about 5.5 mph and was happy to feel that I had quite a bit of energy left.  Also I was proud of myself for doing this all after a day of work and a choir rehearsal.
• Yesterday I did 8 miles.  I started at 11:30 and slowly worked my way up to 10:30.  This may have been pushing it a bit as around 7.2 miles my breathing got rough and I suddenly felt overworked.  Not sure how much of this has to do with some asthma issues that I'm working out, but I finished the run and feel pretty good today so I'm not too concerned.  I'll just take it a little slower next time.  It's so hard to maintain a slower pace on the treadmill because I find I get so frigging bored (the TVs are too high for me to look at comfortably and I'm enough of a klutz that this could lead to falling and injury), but I think it's good practice for the grueling psychological task of finishing a marathon.
• I was a little lazy about strength last weekend, but then on Wednesday although my arms felt tired, my pushups and crunches improved.

I can feel improvement in everything.  I know the changes won't be quite as dramatic going forward, but just working out consistently and having a plan has put me right back on track after months of laziness.

Yesterday we bought a used Aeropilates machine from craigslist.  I had never heard of these things and I was trying to see if I could score some cheap resistance bands on CL when I came across it.  There seems to be a pretty big range in machines from $300 to $2000, but they are all geared towards doing a Pilates workout in a guided, controlled, comfy way. I saw nothing but rave reviews on all levels of machine, both from beginners and long-time Pilates fans.  I also noticed a lot of people who have back problems and other pain issues got a lot of benefit from it, so I figured it would be a safe way to build up some good whole-body strength.  We haven't tried it yet but I'm pretty psyched.

I have also been thinking a lot about how I got into running, and remembering what it was like to discover my inner long-distance athlete.  It reminds me how far I've come and how much I've learned.  Life is amazing.