7 miles

Today I ran 7 miles. Despite going to bed last night bone tired after a full day of teaching and nail biter of a basketball game. And waking up this morning to the alarm (it's never a good sign if I sleep all the way to the alarm) and with annoying post nasal drip. TMI for some perhaps but those are the facts. So, all that being said, I attribute the success of today's run to the following:

• Intervals - 1 minute walk: 3 minute run; 
• Seeing good friends at the start; 
• The sun; 
• Completing both weekday short runs this week; and 
• Some good old fashioned stubbornness

Saturday is my preferred running day but since I worked yesterday it fell to today. I love teaching new member class (even on Saturday) but being "on" all day is exhausting for someone with introvert tendencies. Add to that the head cold I've been battling all week, I wasn't sure when I went to bed last night that I was going to go out at all. But I set the alarm anyway. As mentioned above, I slept through to the alarm and was not thrilled when it went off. But I knew in my heart that if I did not go out and at least try I would not be happy. I thought maybe I would try 5 and see how I felt.

Photo credit to Maggi
Left to right: Julius, Me, Russ and Maggi

When I arrived at the Schuylkill River Trailhead at Betzwood, so did Maggi, Russ and Julius. They prefer to run on Sunday and I was excited at the chance to see them. We are not on the same schedule nor the same pace so we all knew we'd do our own thing but starting out together was a real mood booster for me. The bright and abundant sunshine was icing on the cake.

I headed West on the trail for a very short distance to hit up the 21.5 mile marker then turned to head East. I was still debating my distance for the day. I'll spare you those details but in the end I realized that I should go 3.5 miles out as intended and if, on the way back, I should decide I didn't have it in me to run the whole 7 then I would walk back. On any given day - including race day - there might not be enough in the tank and 7 miles is 7 miles, right?

My wonky heart, which has been well behaved of late, did remind me several times on the first half of today's run to slow down. I think the fatigue and the snot factor was the difference.

It was chilly today (31 at the start) but by the time I turned around I was warm and was even able to take my gloves off. There was a very light wind today blowing West to East. On the turn around there was a wind chill but I was still comfortable.

I felt like I was running faster on the return trip. I didn't check my intervals at the turn around so I have no way of knowing for certain. But it doesn't matter. Just that the fact that I felt that good on the return trip is exciting. I more or less chased my shadow on the return trip; a pleasant distraction.

In the end, I finished all 7 miles. At the 20.5 mile marker on the way back, I felt good enough that I gave up the intervals and ran the rest of the way. :) :) I'm very excited and ridiculously proud of this.

Keep Smiling and Keep Moving
- Paula

A Great Day for a Run

As I carefully made my way across ice and snow between mile 2.5 and 4 on the Perkiomen Trail a cyclist passed me going the other direction and called out "A great day for a run". In the blur of his passing I did not see the look on his face and his tone of voice provided no clue as to his intention. And my reply (to myself) was "I think It's a better day for a run than a bike ride". The number of cyclists on the trail today was impressive given the conditions. I said to Sara later that it was almost like they were saying "It's MARCH darn-it. I WILL ride." 😜

It was however a great day for a run --- for me. I don't know if it was the sun; the new shoes; running on a section of the trail that I haven't been to in very long time; or the intervals I chose; but I had a really good run today. And this was despite having missed my weekday runs again. I am just so weather fatigued that I could not go out on Tuesday or Thursday this week. I know I can't keep that up and expect success. With more sunlight and (hopefully) less cold I should be able to bring myself to do better moving forward.

Today, I met Sara and Elaine at Lower Perkiomen Valley Park. We all had our own plans and after good mornings all around, we set off to accomplish them. Spoiler alert: after checking in again before going home, it appears we all were successful.

Over the course of this week, I came to realize that 1 minute walks followed by 1.5 mile runs is not working for me right now. I wanted to do it because on race day I'd like to run between water stops and the water stops are about 1.5 miles apart for OCNJ Half. I want to do that because for my best half ever that was my strategy. I felt so good after that race. BUT as I pondered this since last week's run, I came to terms with the fact that I was in a different place for that race. First, it was at 7 or 8 years ago and came in the fall during training for a marathon. I was in much better race shape. If I work hard these next 6.5 months, I might get to the point where I could run between water stops. But right now, I need to dial it back.

So for today, I chose 1 minute walk; 3 minute run intervals. It worked very well. I never once looked at my timer anxious for the run interval to be over; I finished with enough left over to charge up the hill that brings the trail from creek level to the parking lot at the end.

As I started out on the paved portion of the trail between mile 1 and 2, I tried to focus on my form during the run portions. I tend to hunch over when I get tired. In fact, the shoulders up; hunching over probably makes me tire faster. So I worked on keeping my shoulders down and torso mostly upright. This worked until I hit mile 2.5. The trail is higher up here; it's mostly dirt and gravel and the hillside provides enough shade that the snow doesn't melt. The cross country skiers love it. It provided me with a running challenge. The snow was about 2 -3 inches thick. It was a combination of hard and soft that made for very uneven footing. There were some tire ruts (from park ranger vehicles or rogue ATV riders I could not tell) but these were narrow. To run in them required actual one foot in front of the other strides.

My form during this section suffered. I realized many times that my shoulders were bunched and I was leaning forward. I couldn't manage to keep from falling and maintain my form at the same time. I'm generally adept at multi tasking but the task of trying to stay upright on uneven terrain while running apparently uses up more brain cells than other tasks. I think the adventure of it though helped the miles to feel like they flew by today. Even though the conditions did force me to slow down.

If this were race day, at six miles I have just come up to the start of the boardwalk at St. James Place. The Longport Bridge is behind me. 😊I still have to get past Brown's Donuts with out going into sugar shock from the smell but I think I got this!

Keep smiling keep moving
-Paula

There is a reason training should be a regular thing

Today I finished 6 miles. It was my first attempt at 6 and all in all it was acceptable. However, it could have (should have?) been better. I failed February. I should have run two 5 milers and one 6 miler in February. I barely managed one 5. I skipped a lot of weekday runs. The weather and a general feeling of meh prevailed. The 'schedule' called for 6 today. I debated backtracking to 5 but in the end decided it was better to try the 6 and accept 5 if I had to. So the good news is I finished 6.

Since I ran on the streets of Media - no mile markers - I set up a timing scheme for one minute walks and 25 minute runs. Do the math and 13 minute miles would mean 3 cycles of this. In the end I finished in 3 cycles plus 1.5 minutes. Sounds good, right?

On paper, maybe.  Reality is that I went out too fast to start which provided the cushion for extra walk breaks in the last 2 miles. I need to work on that. This race is NOT about any time goals. It is about finishing but I also want to finish comfortably both physically and mentally. Today was barely either.

On the one hand I can argue (with myself) that I'm 2 miles ahead of where I thought I'd be when I first thought about a schedule for the race. However, on the other hand the reason why I'm 2 miles ahead is because for the first 4 months I was much more consistent with my training. So I need to get back to that and catch up.

First, I must get new shoes. I have my monthly coupon from the Running Place so this week I will go get new running shoes.

Penance

Penance can be defined as voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong.

It wasn't wrong to walk yesterday's planned run, But I decided I needed to try again today.

Since yesterday's planned run was on the Valley Forge loop I decided to use the Media 5 Mile course. It's the closest thing I have to the hills of Valley Forge without having to drive anywhere. I'm pleased to say I finished but it was anything but pretty.

The Media 5 mile course is 2 - 2.5 mile circuits. I have a hard time calling them loops since they are made up of turns on town streets. My plan was to walk from my house to 8th and Jackson and begin my timer. 1 minute walk then continue down Jackson; left on 6th; right on Edegmont; left on 2nd; right on Haldeman; right on Front to Media Elementary is one mile. Another minute walk then left on Monroe; right on State; right on West; right on Front; left on Olive to mile 2 at 2nd and Olive; 1 minute walk then continue on Olive to right on 8th to Jackson. (Repeat).

I walked again at 8th and Jackson partly because I didn't want to calculate and remember where mile 3 and 4 where AND (probably more so) it was a reward for conquering 8th street. I have a love/hate relationship going on with that hill. It loves to torment me and I hate it. I do it because "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? And I'm not dead................yet :)

I'm happy and proud to say I finished the miles, but as I mentioned earlier it was not pretty. Very quickly into the run I felt like I was being choked by my base layer. I've been wearing it all winter and it's been fine. Why today? The temperature was warmer than yesterday but still cold enough to need it. I spent most of the first mile being annoyed by it. I finally decided it was because I signed up for the race on Friday. It wasn't the shirt that was bothering me it was the realization that I'm really doing this. The 'pressure' to actually do it is real now. The shirt collar bothered me a little less after I self talked myself out of being bothered by it. The self talk went along the lines of "I do not want to fail at this event but it's ok if I do and oh by the way at 5 miles you are more than 1/3 of the way to race day total".

Other self talk today included "No one expects you to be fast except you sometimes, so knock it off". This while I was trudging up one of the hills and wondering if I should even bother trying to run up the hill.

I have to admit to cheating on the walk breaks a today. After the first one they were more like 1.5 minutes. And I did bail on the second attempt up the hill on Front Street between West and the Bar Association building. But, and this is a HUGE but, --- I nailed 8th Street ---- twice!! And for that I thank anyone who is reading this. I really wanted to be able to tell you that I did.

Keep smiling and keep moving
-Paula

When Mother Nature Hurts .... You Walk

Not my footprints. 

Or at least I do. When I left the house this morning it was 12 degrees. When I arrived at Valley Forge it was 13 and the hourly forecast predicted 20 by the time I completed my (planned) 5 mile run around the loop. I had 4 layers on top; 2 on the bottom; and 2 on my hands and head. I forgot to goop up my face or bring a scarf. Either one would have made a difference.

I set out planning to stick to 1 minute walk and finish the mile running. It became evident very quickly that that was not going to work. I switched to 1 minute walk; 2 minute run. Still it was too cold. As slow as I am, the running portion put just enough breeze on my face that it hurt. It really hurt. I tried shrugging my face into the collar of my outer layer. I tried covering my face with my gloved hands. Neither was conducive to successful running (especially on top of the snow). The gloved hands on my face also fogged up my sunglasses.

I thought about turning around and going home. I was less than a half mile into the distance. Instead I decided to walk the loop. I know that sounds like an even worse idea, right? Walking would leave me out doors longer. But the sun was shining and while walking I could keep my face covered by my hands or collar as needed.

I can not begin to describe how beautiful it was. I took some photos but truly they do not do the views justice. At one point the sun was at just the right angle and brightness that the snow sparkled. It looked like someone had dropped little diamonds across my path.

And did I mention it was cold? I found myself looking out across the fields wondering how cold was

Mt Joy in the distance with Wayne's Woods at my back

it in that Winter of 1777. It was cold enough in 2019 to keep most (sane) people off the trail that early. I had the loop to myself for the first hour. It was so quiet I could hear the train whistle in the distance in between the squishing of the snow under my feet.

I'm sorry that I didn't run as planned. Yet I would have missed all the details if I had been concentrating on running. The "slow-build-up-the-miles-plan" I'm on leaves plenty of wiggle room for days like this and I'm especially grateful for that today.