Close Encounters Of The Wild Kind

Today's run post was brought to you by the letters H and W, for Humidity and Wildlife.

I took a midday run on this fine, humid Sunday. The temperature was quite low compared to the 90-100 degree "dome" we've been baking under for the last, I don't know, month? It was somewhere in the 80s and overcast most of the day, so I figured, What the heck, I'll run in the afternoon. One better, I'll do it on the hilly Five Mile Trail. 

Whoo-wee! My lungs got a workout today!

But I'm glad I went when I did. The Five Mile Trail (read my first blog about it and check out some pictures here) is such a pretty path. It's always so green and lush and fragrant. It was even better after the much needed thunderstorm in the wee hours of this morning.

I tackled the trail from the Newtown Road entrance, giant uphill first. I wasn't out to run hill repeats or anything, so I just took it easy and went as far as I could before resigning to walk the rest of the way up. It's real big, folks. Steep and long. But from the crest of the hill, I ran the whole first leg of the out-and-back, save a brief walk at another mini-monster hill at the end of the leg. I turned, ran down the mini-monster, then let myself walk the uphills and run the crests and downhills for the second leg. All in all, considering my freshness in my return to running and considering the milkshake-thick air, I'm pleased.

Now to the wildlife portion of our programming. Turns out I don't do so well with any kind of wild (read: everything but a domesticated cats or friendly dogs) animal. 

Exhibit A: Yesterday after a wedding ceremony, the bride and groom released a small flock of domesticated/pet white doves. It was a magical moment, so naturally, I screamed and ducked-and-covered --twice-- nearly diving to the ground as the beautiful creatures fluttered about overhead. Fortunately I'm not what the crowd was paying attention to, so I don't think more than 8 people saw what I did. Embarrassing nonetheless.

 Wing-ed spawn of Satan (source)

Exhibit B: I had a standoff with a doe on the trail this afternoon. I was trotting down a hill in the middle of my return leg when I rounded a corner and saw a large brown thing. I thought it was a wild dog and prepared to have to kick and scream and fight for my life, but I almost instantly realized it was a deer. Oh, no problem, it'll run away when it hears me. It heard me, it saw me, it did not run. I coughed, I clapped my hands, I stomped my feet while running. The deer was just standing there. And it didn't have the headlights look either. It had no fear in its beady eyes.  I was, no joke, about 10 feet from it before I realized my plan wasn't working.

 It was *almost* this big. Terrifying. (Source)

Don't get me wrong--I am an animal advocate. I love all creatures and abhor hunting and get sad when I see any animal dead on the road. (Except maybe white doves.) But this was a big animal. And it had hooves. And hooves are hard. I may or may not have visualized this doe, standing on its back legs, hoofing me to death, kind of like a kangaroo with boxing gloves.

In case you needed help visualizing. (Source)

But I'm brave and I don't panic at unreasonable things, so naturally I squealed a little and turned and ran in the opposite direction, flailing my arms (again, just a little) hoping it wasn't chasing me. I think the doe was intimidated by my wicked survival skills and sauntered slowly off the trail and into the woods. I swear it rolled its eyes at me.

Whatevs. So now you know how to get rid of a scary deer.

Adventure Boot Camp: Week 2 Wrap Up

You know what? Being sick in the summer really blows.

Okay, being sick at all is really bad, but I don't get sick very often. In fact, this is the second time I've been sick in less than a year, and that's a LOT for me. I was on a streak of wellness for a long, long time.

So, as you know, I had to ruin perfect attendance at boot camp this week because of the yuck, but I still got 4 days of early morning workouts in.

Week 2 is complete. Halfway finished. I'm actually really sad about it, too. I might try to do morning workouts on my own after all is said and done, though I think motivation to get up and exercise is a lot harder to come by when you're not driving to meet 20 other women who are doing the same thing. You all might have to help motivate me to do that. Too bad we don't all live close by; we could totally or

Anyway, what happened this week?

Well, the biggest news is that my muscles aren't sore any more! Yay! The second biggest news is that it was soooo hot and humid out this week, which made breathing interesting. And third, we got to run this week. Yay again!


We did some of the most torturous things this week, and they both involved a little plot of parking lot and some orange cones.

We did suicide drills (click here to see a video of a bunch of basketball dudes doing suicide drills), and at each stopping point, another ABCer was stationed doing some kind of workout (one was planks, another jumping jacks, then running in place, and bicycle crunches). So, while I was heaving my self up and down and up and down the suicide course, women were working their butts off, waiting for me to finish. Fortunately I went first so my slowness didn't hurt anyone too much. This was definite gym class flashback material, though.

Yesterday we did a cardio circuit on that same coned-off parking lot. Jumping, skipping, butt-kicking, shuffling, sprinting, etc. down the course and back. The last little up-and-back exercise involved donning a giant rubberband and trying to run down the course while your partner held you back. And that's when I got a compliment: "Wow you're strong!" YAY! I told my partner to really hold me back and I proceeded to haul her down the way. I'm pretty sure my weight was a benefit for me there, though.

Plank exercises have continued, but I've found ways to work around them (from my knees or my forearms or an elevated surface). It's still a little frustrating for me, though, because I know I'm not getting the strengthening workout I could be getting if I could just hold myself up. But, it's really helping to use my lifting gloves. Traction and whatnot. And other women struggle too, so that's comforting.

Two more things.

Yesterday morning it was raining. Like a constant heavier-than-sprinkling drizzle for about 20 minutes of our workout. I, of course, need no help getting soaking wet during ABC because of my profuse sweating, and by the end of our time, I had no where left to wipe my sweaty/rained-on face. Mmm ... delicious!

Wednesday, the Anderson ABC'ers had visitors. Yes, we had visitors from bring a friend free day (and I had no friend to bring), but a the family of ducks that lives in the pond at the Anderson Center also decided to come out and play. Usually they just float around in the pond and "laugh" at us. I so wish I had a picture to share, and hopefully I'll remember to ask ABC Linda to forward me the ones she took. This little trio of ducklings (not the itty bitty kind, but the ones that have lost most/all of their down), came and sat right behind my mat and just watched us. Seriously, two or three feet away from me ... just chillin'. They stayed for pretty much the whole set of triplexes. Yes, I hate most birds and other winged creatures, but I love ducks, so this just made my day. So cute.

So, on that note, I want to take a moment to apologize for the extreme dullness of my posts lately. I'm not sure what's up. I'm going to blame it on getting up so early ... once I get the chance to sit down and write, I've got nothing. Plus, I'm not getting out and running on my own anymore, which usually gives me time to think about what to write. I'll try to find my funny/interesting bone again, I promise.

Speaking of running on my own, I may try to go tonight, depending on how I feel. I miss it, and if I'm even remotely okay, I'm going to go.

I MISS RUNNING! Whaaa??

Adventure Boot Camp: Week 1 Wrap Up

Well, that was a fast week. And easier than I expected, but not in a bad way.

As I've mentioned before, Day 1 of Adventure Boot Camp (ABC) was really difficult for me. Read all about it here. The rest of the week went really well, though. This could have been the result of a few things:

• The weather improved. The temperature and humidity difference between Monday and the rest of the week was HUGE. It was like comparing the depths of Hell (hot and 150% humidity) to a nice Fall morning. Humidity = can't breathe.
• I was early to ABC for the rest of the week instead of 10 minutes late like I was on my first day. This kept my panic level in check.
  
• I realized I needed to slow the heck down. On Day 1 I went at it like a fabulously fit person would--faster, stronger, rawr! Yeah, don't do that. Not a good idea. On Tuesday morning I switched into "Start slow and increase if it's not challenging enough" mode. Classic "Good Idea, Bad Idea" moments, right there.

I'm going to continue with the listing theme here and just outline some summary points. (Ew, I sound so corporate ... patooey!)

• Getting up early for ABC is NOT the hardest part for me. That part is surprisingly easy, actually. I mean, "early" is relative; if you're used to getting up at noon, then 10 a.m. is early (cough Jeff cough cough), and if you're used to 5:30 a.m. ... no, 4:40 a.m. is early to everyone.
• For me, the hardest part of ABC is the muscle soreness. I definitely understand that it's a good thing and is completely normal, but that doesn't make scaling the stairs at work or my apartment any easier. (PS, this is probably the only occasion in my life where going up the stairs is easier than going down the stairs.) The good thing is that I know I'm working my muscles and the soreness eases up when you walk around a bit. And, muscles soreness is way way better than injury soreness.
• I can do this stuff! In fact, every exercise we do, apart from one category, which I'll talk about next, is completely doable for me. You can work at your own pace and you chose how much or how little to challenge yourself. I think that probably the only requirement for participating in ABC is to not be the kind of person who always takes the easy way out, just because it's easy. You have to want to improve and want to battle yourself. Notice I said battle yourself, not others; it's not a competitive environment at all. It's not for dudes. =)
• I struggle HUGELY with any exercise that involves supporting or lifting my own body weight with my arms--planks, push ups, those dip thingys from the front of a bench. I just can't do it. Yes, I said can't. My friend, Anne the engineer, was nice enough to figure out the math behind women and push ups. Females are lifting roughly 2/3 of their body weight when they do a push up. Without giving you a hard number, because then you could figure out my weight and I'm just not ready for that yet, let's say that I'd have to be able to bench press a whole overweight person in order to do a proper push up. Folks, I may have thrown metal balls around for fun in high school and college (shot put), but I'm not that strong. This is quite a conundrum, because there are quite a few exercises at ABC that are built on this idea of lifting your own weight. And the alternatives aren't that much better. To do a push up from an elevated hand position requires using a slippery metal bench or a sharp cement bench/low wall. Ouch! I'm at an impasse with these exercises. And that's frustrating.
• Moving on to a positive note, I have excellent posture! I really understand how to stand and position myself for lifting exercises. I don't know if that's because I'm observant and pay attention to the little details (oh, my chin should be up a little bit instead of down in my chest), or if I just understand the phisiology behind it. Whatever, I'm good at it. I see my reflection in a nearby window and I'm proud to say that my butt-out, straight back squats look similar to ABC Linda's (just grossly enlarged).
• Another positive: My core is strong. Windshield wipers, leg throws, scissor kicks, flutter kicks ... I stomped them all this week. This probably influences the posture thing too. I would imagine that my core muscles have to do as much work as my legs do on a daily basis to support my girth. My arms? Not so much.
• Issue #1: Post-workout digestive disagreements. I'm going to leave it at that. If anyone has tips, go for it.
• Issue #2: No, actually, I can't pull my elbows in any more. All of the tricep exercises require that you pull your elbows together, whether it be over your head, in front of you, or behind you, and I've been called out on it. Well, I can't pull them in any more! I'm guessing it's a combination of my mannish, wide shoulders, my arm fat, my side boobs, and my spare tires (I carry at least 2 at all times, just in case) but these arms won't squish in any further.
  
• Issue #3: Dude, the waistband on my workout shorts hurts to lie down on. I have a few pair, but they all have the same problem. Fail.

Wrapping up, I promise.

Yesterday we did a push up challenge (how many in a minute) and ran a timed mile. I did "girly" push ups and definitely did them with bad form (flopped to the ground on the way down and arched my back to push up). But, I did 5 of them in a minute. Shame, shame, shame. Blech.

I was probably the only person there excited to do a timed mile. I haven't timed my mile yet, except use a 2-mile run that included a warm up walk and cool down walk. Anyway, yes, I was excited. It was familiar ground. I know my running pace and I know how I can do it. Yay familiar grounds!

What was my time? 13:07

Not amazing, but good. At that pace my 5K might have been at 40 minutes instead of 44 minutes; that number speaks to me. When ABC Linda called my time out as I crossed the finish line, I actually told her to shut up. I don't think she got it. =)

Here were my goal numbers going in: 12 minutes = no way. 14 minutes = meh. 15 minutes = too slow. So, I was between "meh" and "no way." Good place to be, I'd say.

OH, I forgot to mention that I did go for a run on Thursday evening. I stepped back to Week 2 of C25K and did okay. It wasn't a huge challenge, but my tired legs and sore muscles made it harder than it usually would have been. I kept a moderate pace (for me) the whole time, too, instead of just doing small strides for the sake of longevity. But I did get shin splints for the first time in a long time. What's that all about?

I might do one or two runs next week, but definitely none this weekend. What? ABC Brian (hi Brian!) told us not to in his newsletter. I'm just following directions, folks ...

Have a great holiday weekend!

How Was Your First Day Of Boot Camp?

It was HORRIBLE folks!

I was completely miserable the whole time. Whiny and nauseated and weak and whiny and out of breath in a totally painful way and whiny.

Basically, I felt like I was back in the worst kind of gym class where the exercises seem pointless and everyone is doing better than you and barely sweating and you just want to go sit on the bleachers and pout.

A family friend said it best: "I will start crying and assume the fetal position at the mere mention of gym class."

Yeah, that's about right. That's all I wanted to do.

First of all, I couldn't breath. I don't know if I was holding my breath or what (no headphones = I can hear myself breathing = I try to over-control my breath = suffocation = death), but I was miserable! I couldn't breath in deep enough and was making that awful gasping sound and then started to panic and ... well ... it's all downhill from there. Plus, it was about 153% humidity out there this morning. UNGODLY!

Second of all, my legs wouldn't hold me up. I was wobbly-kneed from the get go. You'd think all this running would have taken care of that, but I guess I've been working different kinds of muscles or something.

Third, I was late. It took me longer to get out of my place in the morning than I thought, took me longer to get there than I thought, and I couldn't find the friggin' group once I got there. UGH! I was between 10 and 15 minutes late, so I started on a terrible note.

Fourth, mountain climbers and push ups.

Fifth, I wanted nothing more than to puke and then lie on the wet ground. My stomach was not prepared for a pre-dawn exercise fiasco.

Clearly I was unprepared in more ways than one. I wanted to quit. I wanted to retrieve my gift certificate and give it to someone else. In fact, I even tried to get it back at one point, asking if I could reschedule for a cooler time of year. The trainer wasn't pleased and told me that I was just working at a higher level than I was used to and that I should try to slow down. I immediately went into defensive, excuse-making 9-year-old mode, which really helped me get out of gym class when I was 9 years old. Trainer Linda, not so much.

So, I left unsure if I'd be returning or not. I rested on my living room floor when I got home, struggled to stay standing in the shower, scarfed my breakfast happily, then tried to avoid taking a nap on my drive in to work. I stayed in a bitter mood for a good 2 hours, too. I'm a champion at that.

Well, the bitterness wore off, and I'm feeling a little better now. A little. We'll see.

On an educational note, I reached out to my knowledgeable Facebook friends today for advice on pre-exercise eating. See, I don't like to do it. When I run in the evening, I like to get out there before putting something in my stomach. As long as I can remember, I've always had a negative reaction to exercising with food in my stomach. This could have, however, had something to do with my tendencies to overeat. It wasn't until recently that I realized I only need to down 100 calories to sustain the kind of workout I do. Well, yeah, that still upsets my stomach. Today would be the prime example. I only had water and an apple and I still got sick. UGH!

So anyway, here's an article my FB Friend, Lauren, passed along to me: Should You Eat Before or After Exercise?

The other ladies also had some excellent tips and provided me with a little comfort in knowing that other people struggle with the same eating/sick thing. So thanks girls! After reading their tips and what the article had to say, I've decided to try some full-calorie juices and/or a piece of toast and/or a piece of fruit before I leave ... whichever combination suits feels best. I'll also be trying to get a whole glass of water down before leaving the house. Blech!

So, tomorrow is another day. I'm going to try to keep my mouth shut, stop whining, slow down, breathe, and just do what I'm there to do -- FINISH!

Okay, I may still whine a little. At least give me that!

The Redlegs Run for Home 5K

Ahhh, I know there are a small hand full of you who have been waiting for an update. So, here it is!

• I finished the run!
• It was really humid, but overcast, which was very helpful. But the wind wasn't steady. Ugh.
• The course felt so long. (Jeff agreed.)
• I was never really in pain and my breathing was comfortable, but my body got tired, which is a new sensation for me.
• I saw all the buddies I hoped to see and my bestie Jeff did a great job!
• I'm really exhausted and the creative juices must have sweated out of my face during the run.
• Finally, my finishing time was 44:46, which I'm happy with.

So, here are some pictures. I'll probably post more fun stuff later, but I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer. Happy Saturday, y'all!

Me and Jeffy before the run.
Please forgive the zero makeup and running hairdo throughout the rest of the photos.

Jamie B. and me, pre-race.

Crowd shots, pre-race.

Over half way there!

NASTY post-race shot. Blech! Jamie looks good though!

Little Victories, Episode 1: Today's Run Sucked

Well, it's true. Today's run was not fun. I had several elements working against me today, and I almost succumbed to the most vicious one: laziness. But, I didn't. I went to the park and I finished the workout. Little victory #1: Left the house. Little victory #2: Finished the run.

Let's see, here's my list: tired from moving, sore from painting (squatting, reaching, rolling, etc.), queasy and uncomfortably from cramps (sorry guys), sleepy from being waken up by my screeching and fighting animals, and a little congested from one allergy or another.

So yeah, despite all that, I got up and went. And I hated it the whole time. This is no, "I'm so glad I went because it all got better when I started running" story. Legs hurt, stomach hurt, arms hurt, COULDN'T BREATHE!

Little victory #3: First run of the season in high humidity (86% on my Weather Channel app). With that, I'm officially not looking forward to running this summer.

Let's continue the whining, shall we? I actually cut my second to last running interval short by about 5 seconds. Pathetic. Why not just go the last 5 seconds? It's not like I wouldn't have recovered somehow, right?

On that note, little victory #4: Running the last leg even though I excused myself from doing it after the second to last leg. I did it slow, and it hurt, and I whined internally the whole time, but I did it.

Little victory #5: Despite my whining and moaning and lack of oxygen, I somehow managed to finish only slightly behind my normal pace. Two miles in 28:20 (instead of two miles in 28:00).

Finally, little victory #6: I felt great after and for the remainder of the day. Lesson learned, again. And I'm glad I got to run after having so many days off (haven't worked out since Tuesday).

Sorry for the rant. Let's call this a slump. I think my future motivation on these crappy days will be to step back a "week" in the workout. I could have done Week 1 today and finished fine. It would have been less painful and I wouldn't have been so close to quitting. But is that okay? Do I allow myself that concession?

What about you? I still want to know when you know you need to walk instead of run. Do you ever give yourself an easy workout?

Next run: TBD.

This is the last week of the moving fiasco that is April. Things will be getting easier. I am considering giving myself a try at a treadmill workout. I haven't tried it yet. What should I expect? Easier or harder?