Well it has been 6 months since i posted anything.  In October I had finally worked up to my first ever 5 mile run and was so proud of myself.  A week or so later running ended with the birth of a litter of puppies. I didn't have enough energy to even try to fit it in.  I ran once in 8 weeks.  The first time just to prove to myself i could still do a couple of mile after not running for 6 weeks and then again at 8 weeks for another couple of miles because I was scared I had lost all of the progress.  At 9 weeks I was pressured into a 5K and ran the whole way.  I was surprised that my time was not much slower than before the hiatus.  The next weekend I ran another 3 miles and since then I have started the C25K again to try to improve my time.  Like Kathy, the heat and humidity is already making it miserable if you are not done by 8am.  We were totally robbed of a winter this year.  So if I have learned anything it is that this is completely mental.  I can plan on running 3 and then end up wanting to stop at 1.  Getting my head back into it mentally seems to be the biggest roadblock.  That and no matter how fast I feel like I am running I still end up with the same slow times.  16 minute-17 minute miles.  I would really like to work up to a half marathon but so many here close the course that you have to do a 15 minute mile to be able to do it.  I am worried that although i might have a faster mile or two early on it will slow way down as the time and the miles go by.  I'm very frustrated with how slow i am and that it really feels like i have lost the mental push I had a few months ago.  

Kristi

Kathy, I thought about you today as I had a craptastic 6 mile treadmill run in the evening.  I knew it was going to be terrible from the first step.  I can always tell when I had a bad run on my tracking program because I stop right at the target.  My last two 6 milers I was feeling good and they are 6.22 and 6.16 miles long.  Today was 6.01 and I'm not happy about the extra .01 mile.

Kristi, One thing a friend of mine to build up their speed that I thought was quite clever was to use the C25K program, but instead of run/walk, they did fast running and slow running.  So they would run the whole time, but during the "run" intervals, they pushed their pace up by several minutes per mile and then dropped back to their "slow" pace during the walk intervals.  Eventually, they were able to run faster for longer periods of time.  They used a treadmill, but I think you could do it on the street too.  I thought it was a cool idea.

Julie, Congratulations on your first half!  Considering your injury and all the walking one does at Disney, I think that is a tremendous time.

Have enjoyed reading everyone's updates! Been a little slow here in activity. Had top of foot pain (maybe extensor tendonitis?). Took most of the week off just in case. Went out for my long run on Friday and no unusual problems. Signed up for a 4 mile run in May so going to try to get up to an 8 mile long run before then and work on my speed and such before then. I'll check back with everyone later, happy running!

-Miles

Mike- Good luck with your long runs! Hope they went well. I see you are only a week away from the race, you are gonna do great! Eager to hear your race report as well.

Well after a light week the week before of only two runs and 10 total miles, last week did 15 miles in 3 runs. I guess I paid for it, Friday was my long run of 6 miles and it was pure misery. Granted it was warm and dry out (though not any warmer than I can expect for summer which is right around the corner here). Anyways I must have had to stop and walk about twice every mile from about 1.5 miles and on. Was just ridiculous. Not sure if it was the heat, the increase in mileage, maybe dehydration, maybe nutrition, or maybe just my cardio conditioning still has something to be desired. At any rate, about an hour and a half after I set out I came back miserable with a little over 6 miles on my Garmin. Ugh. Well you can't always have good runs I suppose. Went out this morning and did some speedwork, one "warm up" mile at a fast (for me) 12:30 pace than four quarter mile repeats with a goal of an 11 minute mile. I still have difficulty gauging that pace and staying consistent there, but overall I enjoy the speedwork days for something different. Plus I let myself stop and walk inbetween for now and I know my brain really enjoys the "I can stop and walk in..." mentality. I need to try to get in some more cross training I think, both weights and some stationary bike. I think my overall level of fitness is sort of stagnating and requires more work than just 3-4 days of jogging to improve. Hope everyone has a great week of running!

-Miles

Miles, I have that kind of run sometimes too.  I wish I understood why it happens.  For me, I just don't have "it" some days.  I can run the same exact course same time of day, same pre-race eating, same drinking and one day I just want to stop and walk the whole time and another day I can just crank through it.  I dialed way back this week to rest my knee and I think it was a good call.  I had one of the good runs today.  I did 8 miles instead of 6 because I felt so strong.  It was one of those days where the weather was glorious and I was just happy to be out.  My legs felt like they just wanted to flow and every time I looked down at my Garmin I went "Oh no!" and had to force myself to slow down.  But I never felt like I was pushing.  I hope the actual race goes that way!

Deb, thanks for the good thoughts.  I'm cautiously optimistic.

Deb- Nothing like a well timed nap! I'm sure you needed the energy to keep track of all the scouts.

MaryKay - Thanks I didn't even think about the sleep thing. But I like your idea that after adding mileage or adding a day it might just take my body two weeks to recover. I think the problem is I add a day, then feel miserable, so the next week I cut back a day or sometimes two days...then I'm back in the same loop again when I try to get back up to where I was at. I'm going to try to take it easy with pace and just try to hit the same number of miles as I got last week and be patient for it all too settle in. Of course, patience is not something I am great at!

Went out today for an "easy" 3 miles. Got carried away and started off too fast. My shins complained a short while later. Walked a little, stretched a little, felt a bit better in the last three quarters of a mile while I maintained a very slow pace. Probably should not be trying to do anything "fast" the day after speedwork. Going to really make an effort to be very easy and very slow for the rest of my runs this week.

-Miles

Miles, you might try lowering your mileage when you first add a new day.  If you were running three days at 4 miles per run, try switching to 4 days at 3 miles a run to limit the stress on your system.  I also build my miles for two weeks and then drop back a bit the next week -- its easier to add a day on the drop back week.

Now that I re-read Mary Kay's post, I realize she just said the same thing.  So I guess I'm saying to listen to her. 

Ahhahahahaha! Everyone's style of *hearing* is different. It never hurts to have another opinion.