Crazylegs Training: Days 5 and 6

Didn't do any running on Friday. Instead, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, followed by 10 minutes on the treadmill doing incline walking at 8%. Got a little bonus workout, too, as Dakota needed a walk when I got home. So, tack on another 2 miles or so...and a pair of wet shoes due to the unseasonably warm temps causing our snow to thaw.

Today (Saturday), I was intending to do my "long" run of the week, but the schedule didn't pan out, so I'm going to do that tomorrow. Instead, just got a 25-minute walk with the dog. Oh well, rest days are good days, too.

Cinnamon stick stench

One of Dakota's favorite treats are "bully sticks." There's really no way to put a fine point on this, so I'll just say it: They're dried bull penises. They look like oversized cinnamon sticks. They smell like body sewage and unwashed livestock. Herein lies my quandary...she LOVES them, but they almost knock me over when she eats one in the same room with me.

How much do I love this dog? I guess enough to tolerate otherworldly bull penis odoriferous emanations while she chews in bliss.

Sigh.

Crazylegs Training: Days 2-4

On Tuesday, I rested. Now, I know it sounds funny to rest only one day after starting a training program, but it's what my body was asking for. If it hadn't been my day to let the puupoes out over lunch, I probably would've done something, but I was on potty-duty. Plus, by the time I got Dakota home, we'd really run out of time for a walk before the ill-fated Spartan game against the supernatural, spooky, "sold our collegiate sports souls to the Devil" Illini. So, I rested.

Wednesday, I ran two miles at 5.4 mph. It felt good, not great, but good. Does running ever feel "great?" Other than those periodic times when you hit the right stride and you can feel your body moving in concert with itself and your feet become a percussive instrument against the ground. Yeah, I guess those times are pretty great.

Thursday (today), I wasn't planning on running, but it just sounded good. So, to avoid the trap of overtraining, I decided to split the difference and do a half-running, half-walking workout. I ended up running 1 mile at 5.5 mph, then walked for a while, then did two sets of intervals where I ran 2 minutes at 6.0 mph, then walked 2 minutes at 4.0 mph. After those, three minutes of walking at a 6% incline, because as my friend Gary from work said so eloquently: "HILLS."

The coolest part is, I can feel my body changing already. I'm stronger. I like that.

State of the Union (blah, blah, blah)

So, the State of the Union address was last night. Did I watch a minute of it? Hell, no. In fact, I plan to listen to our Monkey-in-Chief as LITTLE as possible over the next four years until we're paroled from his completely idiotic administration.

Actually, I shouldn't call him Monkey-in-Chief...that's insulting to the monkeys.

The beginning of two hours of stress and basketball

My beloved Michigan State Spartans are just about to take the court at Breslin against the Illinois Fighting Illini. I have a feeling the next two hours are going to be stressful. I will either be dejected or elated when this game is done. If I'm elated, I'm also going to be really damn surprised, because it'll mean we won. Could we win? Could we?

It's the Spartans. I guess anything could happen. My beer is waiting. I'll check back in later.

Crazylegs Training: Day 1

Ran two miles today, at 5.3 mph. It felt really pretty good. My legs were getting a bit tired toward the end, but I never felt like I couldn't finish it. The training plan calls for me to do the same thing on Wednesday and Saturday. Shouldn't be a problem, but I can tell that I need to stick with the training plan and not do too much too soon.

Also took Dakota for a half-hour walk after work, which hopefully will help keep all the fluids moving and avoid too much muscle soreness.

Ah! That reminds me! I should be drinking water! I'll go get some now...

Just Crazy(legs) enough to try this

You're not going to believe this. I, the appealingly zaftig Wendish wench, have registered myself for an 8K run. April 30th. I have about three months to train.

What, am I NUTS?

Perhaps I am, but I'm also excited about this. Last week, during the course of my weekly workouts, I kicked the treadmill up to 5.0 mph and ran a mile. I hadn't run since before Christmas, and I wasn't sure how it would go. It felt GREAT. So great, in fact, I ran again the next day, even though I know consecutive days of running is a good recipe for burn-out. I just had to feel that again. So, last Friday morning, I went out to the Crazylegs website and, taking a deep breath, I registered for my first race ever. Not that it'll be a race for me...more like an exercise in simply finishing. Meeting a goal. Making it across the finish line without puking.

The cool thing is, everyone who I've talked to about this have all said, "Oh, you can do that. That's no problem. You'll finish. You'll be fine."

And I'm thinking, "Do you know something I don't?" Because I have fears. Fears of having a total physical breakdown at mile 3 and having to hobble all the way to the end, the last police car escort idling along behind me, offering me a ride as people pick up cones and the last of the oranges and bottled water disappears from the tables at the finish line. But, even as I have those fears, I know I can do this. In fact, I'm guessing I'll do much better than I thought I would. If nothing else, I figure the training up to the race can only benefit me. Decreasing my resting heart rate, burning calories, increasing my metabolism, building my lower body muscles, building my aerobic capacity, all that good stuff. So, even if I "fail" at finishing the race, I'll have better health to show for it.

I'm planning on chronicling my training in this blog, partly to keep myself motivated, and partly so that, when on May 1, I wake up thinking, "Did I just run a 5-mile race yesterday?," I can look back and say that yes, indeed, I did. And then I'll probably go out for pancakes.