Twitter Road Racing and a Progress Update

My version of snow shoes

It seems the Twitter Road Race was a huge success, and I’m really happy to have been a part of it. There was a total of 376 runners that took part in this event from 14 different countries. People every where, from the U.S. to Switzerland to Saudi Arabia, all pounded the pavement yesterday. The results are in, and I am pretty content with how I did!

My time for the 5K was 31:54.

Overall, I was #248 out 0f 376.

Out of all the women who raced, I was #109 out of 202.

In my age group, I was #35 out of 60.

(The overall winner was a man from Iowa who ran the 5K in 16:54!)

So it seems I fell right in the middle in each category, which I’m happy with.  I improved my pace down to 9:50/mi.  This is important because it shows that I’m getting faster.  I’m also becoming more and more consistent in my pace.

Let’s compare, shall we?

This is from right around the first week of January

This is from yesterday

So in about 3 weeks, I’ve cut quite a bit off my pace time. I’ve also become more of a steady runner. Being able to look back and see where I’ve been, and where I am today is very motivating to me.  I’m so thankful for my Garmin and warm running clothes. Yesterday was so cold and the roads were slippery. I was at my parent’s house and was running on the back roads. Every time a car came, I had to jump into the snow to keep from getting hit. Luckily, they don’t get a lot of traffic!

Another tool that I’m seriously utilizing is MotionTraxx. I’ve mentioned this podcast in another post of mine, but I’m still hooked. I’ve used their 150-160bpm episodes, and I feel they’ve helped me with my breathing, pace and just to keep me going. The music gets my blood pumping, and sometimes I don’t even notice that it’s below freezing and I can’t feel my nose. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend giving it a try.

This week, my mileage increases a little bit.

Monday: 3 miles

Wednesday: Cross-training

Thursday: 3 miles

Saturday: 5 miles

I might do some extra non-running exercises like yoga or the elliptical on the off-days. For cross-training, I’m thinking of hitting up the gym to use their stationary bike. I’ve read that it’s a good choice for runners because it mimics the running motion, but without the impact.

Is it wrong to imagine people holding up signs like this when I go running?

Okay, enough about me.

How was your weekend? Anyone get in a workout, or break a sweat? If you got caught in a snow storm, I would say shoveling counts.

Related articles

• Things Runners Don’t Like to Admit & Things That Make Us Happy (wildthingsrunfree.com)
• Training for Week 15 (runwithchips.wordpress.com)
• Saturday – Speedy Day (5k then 10k) vs Sunday – 14 miles (sustained) (badwabbittails.wordpress.com)

Winter Blues? Wacked Hormones?

Those who reside in the arctic tundra of Wisconsin tend to pride themselves on their ability to gracefully survive the bone chilling cold and excessively long winters. Some people claim they love that wet cold that freezes over their face and pride themselves on their ability to drive through a couple feet of snow.

I am not this Wisconsinite. I hate winter. Ok, the first month of snow is pretty and I appreciate the winter activities like snowboarding. Other than that, not so much. Last winter, we had snow into early May and by that time I had a serious case of winter blues. So these last couple weeks, when I noticed my mood changing significantly, I assumed it was just those same blues settling in early.

But this was so extreme! I would cry at nothing and go from happy to sad in seconds. Anyone who knows me, knows this is completely out of character. I’m a genuinely happy person! This was not from simply the weather changing.

I decided it could be stress. I’m taking 17 credits this semester and things are coming to a head with finals looming on the horizon. I tried taking naps and exercising more to relieve that built up tension. Nope! Still felt awful! For whatever reason I couldn’t shake the constant feeling of sadness or heaviness inside.

After a brief search online for any ideas as to what this could be, I found my answer. The only prescription I am on is for birth control, which I had been on for almost a year. Turns out I’m one of MANY who are on the pill and suffering from “depression” like symptoms similar to what I had been feeling. Even though I’ve been taking the same one for a while, it seems these symptoms can show themselves at various times.

I imagine this is different depending on your body and how it reacts to various hormones. Mine apparently doesn’t function well under this one! I stopped taking it and made an appointment with my doctor to talk about alternatives. I can already tell I’m much less anxious and on edge.

I just thought this was something I should share because someone out there may have had similar issues.
Obviously talk to a doctor because I am not one! But I was so relieved to find an answer to my problem that I couldn’t help but tell someone else!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!

Getting Fit In Your Living Room

As soon as the cold begins to set in, we immediately dread going out for our morning jog. Some days it’s just so not worth freezing your bazoobies off!

Instead, this year invest in workouts you can do in the comfort of your own warm and cozy home. Workout dvds are a cheap and fantastic way to workout without having to step out into that winter chill.

If you aren’t ready to commit to an expensive dvd program like P90x, but still want an intense workout, try these!

30 Day Shred – Jillian Michaels
I love this video! 3 different levels of intensity and each workout is only 30 minutes. Great if you are short on time, but want an all over workout. You’ll need light handweights and a mat if you want. If you don’t have weights, use two cans of soup. It’s honestly better than nothing!

Jari Love Slim and Lean

Jari Love workouts
I love her dvds! She does a lot of weights with high reps and she doesn’t have an expensive studio or videographer, but her videos provide a great strength workout. The exercises are broken down into sections, so you don’t have to do the full hour long video if you don’t have time. Also, she demonstrates proper form for each exercise as well as modifications. No cardio specific workouts here, but you’ll break a sweat…trust me!

These are just some suggestions. If you want to try before you buy, go to your local library!! If they don’t have what you want, they can get if for you from some other library. And they are free to check out (usually for up to a week)!