Hello from Outer Space

Hi! No, I'm not dead. :) I had a two week vacation at the beginning of the month where my internet was spotty (read: my parents have dial up), and then rushed back to Berkeley to prep for a research trip that I'm leaving for this morning. I'll be in Independence, MO for a week at the Truman library, researching health insurance proposals and the conservative coalition in Congress (those are for two separate projects). So, I have been running but I have not been blogging!

My basic place in running is that I totally hit a mental (and running!) wall when I got to the week where one suddenly jumps from five minutes of running to eight to twenty all over the course of three days! What?! It seemed crazy, especially since the plan so far had really been guiding me through running and, even though some runs were hard, there was nothing that I didn't feel like I could accomplish. My mom started running about five years ago, and she gave me a great pep talk, saying that I should favor running at my own pace over trying to stick to a plan and then giving up because it is too hard. :) When she started running, she didn't have an interval plan, but she did have different "benchmarks" along the trail that she would get comfortable with before increasing her distance. She was saying that for some, it might take a month before she really felt comfortable to move on...certainly not just one day!

So, basically I am currently doing the 5/3/5/3/5 run until I feel comfortable with it. After that, I will probably move on to either 8/5/8 or 5/3/8/3/5, or maybe alternate between those. That 5/3/5/3/5 has been kicking my butt, in part I think because I've been traveling and playing catch up on work, and so not getting out every day (I would say it's been about 3-4 days per week as opposed to 5-6 when I'm in Berkeley on a regular schedule). Anyway, long and short of it is, don't be discouraged if you start a plan and its schedule doesn't turn out to be your schedule! As my mom says, the important thing is just to be out there and be active, and I'm accomplishing that either way. :-D

p.s. I also went running on a treadmill for the first time during this project the other day, because a friend was going to the gym and I thought it would be good motivation to go. :) Augh! In some ways it was easier (the running part), but I definitely felt like I was going to fall off the whole time! I also think I spend the whole time starting at the moving parts (to make sure I didn't fall off) and thus felt like the room was spinning when I "disembarked". I think I will stick to road running unless it is raining or something!

Executive Decision ;)

So, I've decided to repeat last week's running this week...I did go out for 3 runs over the course of the week, but the five minutes just never got any easier, so I want to give my body a bit more time to adjust to this running pattern before moving on. There is just no way I'll be able to run 20 minutes by the end of this week...so, hopefully another week of getting used to these longer runs will help me actually be able to do it the next week! :)

Ouch!

Wow, 5 minutes is harder than I thought it would be! It's going ok so far though...this week I've been on two runs so far (skipping yesterday just to give myself a break!). I'll go again this afternoon...in my new running shoes! I'm excited to try these out...I got them from Zappos and they are specifically for running and also for people whose feet pronate, which mine do. So I'm excited to see if they're more fun to fun in. I'll have to take a photo later to share because they are super runner-y and cute. :)

Here's my running playlist for this week:

Boyfriend - Ashlee Simpson (3:03)
All Over Me - Danger Flowers (1:43)
Open Fire - Sara Mac Band (4:59)
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She & Him (2:32)
Good Love Never Dies - Liz Phair (2:59)
No Ceiling - Eddie Vedder (1:34)
Shooting Star and the Ambulance (4:56)
The First Cut is the Deepest (3:01)

Google Maps estimates my running distance at 1.6 miles...not bad! My current route is one I might change...it starts out slightly uphill for the first half, which is sort of tough, but we'll see...that is probably good for me. :)

Running on the Golden Gate Bridge

My parents have been in town the past two days and so we've been doing a little touring around the area. On Thursday, we decided to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge! It's a little less than a mile across and the view is amazing! On the way back across, my mom asked if I'd done my running that day; I said no, but it was ok because she was in town so I could skip a day. But, then we spontaneously decided that we would do some running on the bridge! There were actually a lot of other joggers too. I didn't have my iPod so we went off of my mom's watch, which may not have been very exact, and we only did 3 minute intervals, but I think I got in the total amount of running minutes I was supposed to, or something in the general vicinity. Such pretty views! Running on the bridge was lots of fun. However: word to the wise...if you spontaneously decide to start running, try NOT to do it when you're wearing sandals! I woke up yesterday morning with the tendon in one of my legs pretty sore...ouch! Tennis shoes next time. Luckily I seem to feel fine this morning. :)

Week 3!

I changed up the running a bit yesterday...I had to go up to campus to sign some papers, so I left my stuff in my office and ran home! It was a nice run, about 5 pm so not too hot. I was amazed that I was able to run 3 minutes! I think the music definitely helped. :)

Here's my route. For some reason the little map has a detour that isn't on my original google map? Anyway, there is no detour onto College! But otherwise this is basically where I ran...about 1.5 miles!!!

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Here's my music. I think it's my best music so far!

Narissa Arrives - Enchanted Soundtrack (1:34)
No Ceiling - Eddie Vedder (1:34)
Boyfriend - Ashlee Simpson (3:03)
Something Hot - Afghan Whigs (2:57)
The West Wing Theme Song (0:46)
The West Wing Theme Song (0:46)
All Over Me - Danger Flowers (1:43)
Good Love Never Dies - Liz Phair (2:59)
The First Cut Is the Deepest - Cat Stevens (3:01)

Hills (by which I mean "Slight Inclines")

It's interesting how you notice teeny slight hills when you're running. I have always thought of my neighborhood as an extremely flat place (which it is). But, when running I have noticed that there are actually slight inclines depending which way you go. I can run down my street and it's basically totally flat the whole way. Or, I can go up and down side streets, which have a slight incline. It's amazing how much harder the "uphill" is and how much easier the "downhill" is! What a difference a few degrees makes. :) My housemate Jessie, who just started biking, says she has noticed the same thing on her bike--that she notices slight inclines that she'd never thought about before.

Sara's Running this Week

Running this week has been pretty good so far. I ended up swapping out a song in my playlist (the "Homestar Runner Theme Song" for Patty Griffin's "Reprise") because I realized I needed something more upbeat at the end of my run, and this worked really well. Thanks to Erin for reminding me that Homestar Runner has short, fun songs!

I went running early on Tuesday because my parents were coming into town. Always tricky to do that because I want to eat something first but also don't want to be running on a full stomach. I had a little snack and that worked pretty well. My parents and I went up to Sonoma for wine tasting, but went hiking for a couple of hours first at the Jack London nature preserve. There was lots and lots of uphill, so I could tell my running muscles would be pretty sore. I skipped out on running Wednesday for that reason, and also because of my parents being in town (we went swimming at the beach in Santa Cruz).

Yesterday, I was at my office most of the day while my parents took off for Nevada. When I got home, I was so not in the mood for running, not least of which because it had been a pretty hot day. But, I finally pulled myself off my ass and went out, which was actually a good decision to wait since it had cooled off a lot. And, even despite missing the day before, I thought the run went well. It's interesting because I feel like it gets easier during a particular run...that is, the first song is really hard, and then by the last song I feel pretty good. Weird.

Week 2, Day 1

This was my first day of week two...my muscles were definitely complaining by the end! It was a good run, though, albeit a little hot. Yesterday I went running in the evening, which was much cooler, so maybe I'll try to stick to mornings and evenings when I can from now on. Here is my "soundtrack" for this week:

West Wing theme song x2 (1:32)
Tonks Hunts a Leprechaun - Erin Grady (2:08)
Narissa Arrives - Enchanted Soundtrack (1:34)
Chief Sitting in the Rain - Yo Yo Ma et. al. (2:02)
L'Autre Valse D'Amelie - Yann Tiersen (1:33)
Speed the Plow Medley - Yo Yo Ma et. al. (1:58)
J'y Suis Jamais Alle - Yann Tiersen (1:34)
When You Wish Upon a Star (2:01)
Le Banquet - Yann Tiersen (1:31)
Angel theme song (1:59)
Reprise - Patty Griffin (1:20)
What's that I Hear - Phil Ochs (2:02)

For a total of 21.1 minutes. The best running song was definitely "Narissa Arrives" because it feels like you're running away from something evil the whole time. :)

Hello!

Hi, I'm Sara, Erin's friend from college, and I'll be running along with her. For me, it's definitely couch (read: lazing around in bed) to 5K! My comprehensive exam this past semester (I'm in a PhD program) really killed my will to live/exercise ;) and now that the semester is over and I don't have to walk 20 minutes to campus every day, I've really gotten bad about getting exercise. Erin has definitely inspired me to be more active this summer. :) The running to music has worked really well for me too (this was my third day), and is much more fun than other running I've done in the past. I've just been running around my neighborhood in Berkeley, CA, which is pretty flat and not too many folks on the sidewalk.

I'm also excited to try running. Everyone else in my family is a really impressive runner (especially my sister, who was in high school and college cross country and track)...in the past, I've gone to the Akron Children's Hospital 5K with them...and while everyone else was running the 5K and winning trophies, I would run/walk in the 1 mile "fun run". So here's to being able to run the 5K with them someday! At least all their running might mean I have the genes to be a runner even if I haven't succeeded in the past??

My goal for the summer is basically just to feel healthier...I feel good about my weight overall, but not about my ratio of muscles to fat...basically, I am about zero muscles right now. :) I've also noticed this past semester that I've been getting out of breath faster than I want to, so obviously running should be good for that. I've also been doing a little bit of strength training on our new Wii Fit and I want to keep that up and add some exercises that don't work on the Wii Fit (i.e. situps)...for that, I need to clean my room so I have a place to do them! I don't have too much going on this summer (I'm working part time and trying to study for comprehensive exam number 2 in the fall), so I'm going to pencil myself in for running every day, which may or may not actually happen. I figure that if I try for every day, I will at least run the 3 days required by the program! So far it has been working as I've run the past three days. I can actually feel it getting easier, so that's encouraging!

I don't seem to have very much "short" music, so what I did was make a 10 minute playlist and I play it twice through for my run. Not as exciting as Jazzerpat but it gets the job done. :) It's a funny mix of the Amelie soundtrack and the Into the Wild soundtrack, with the best song definitely being the West Wing theme song. The "presidential" sounding music is very inspirational and I can imagine I am Josh going for a run! I will have to figure out a way to incorporate it next week when I've graduated from the "run 1 minute" level.

Here's my playlist for this week, with running songs in red and walking songs in pink:

Photographs - Eddie Vedder (0:59)
L'Autre Valse D'Amelie - Yann Tiersen (1:33)
Tuolumne - Eddie Vedder (1:00)
Le Banquet - Yann Tiersen (1:31)
West Wing Theme Song (0:46)
Setting Forth - Eddie Vedder (1:40)
La Redecouverte - Yann Tiersen (1:13)
No Ceiling - Eddie Vedder (1:34)

Total Time: 10.2 minutes, to be played twice for 1 run/walk.

Here's where I've been running so far. According to Google Maps, it's about .8 miles each way for a total of 1.6 miles...not bad!



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