Hey guys!
I was recently informed by my wonderful mother that its been a while since I updated the blog. She is correct. Last week was a rest week, I only ran 15 miles total, so I did not feel like there was much to share on that front. But this week I'm running 28, sooo thats going to suck. But there are some major life developments I would like to share with the 5 or 6 people who read this:
1) I am getting much faster. Last week I ran a timed mile, and I ran it in 7:06. Now this may not seem spectacular, but this was mile 4. So I was pleased with that.
2) I can see muscles in my legs/abs/arms again. Its a wonderful sight, right in time for summer.
3) I am eating about as much as a teenage boy (although that really isn't that shocking)
4) I have lost about 15 pounds. Which is a good thing. Last year while I was rowing, I was real thin, to the point where I was constantly injured and sick and my coaches were trying to get me to eat about 24/7. (In my defense its hard to take in an extra 1500 calories a day...). After I stopped rowing, I basically stopped moving, but my body still expected 5 meals a day (ahh the memories...). So as you can imagine, I put on a little chub. Thankfully, the chub is all but gone, and I am feeling good about it. Now I have to make sure I don't keep dropping weight, or I'll be back to the nasty, sickly, injured thing I was last year. BRING ON THE CALORIES!
5) I ran 8 miles on Sunday, all by myself! This was my first "long" run I had to do all on my own, and it went by fast! I made good time, my second half was 4 minutes faster than my first. I was just hungry. I need to start packing snacks...Yesterday I had an easy 4.
6) Today I will run 6 miles, tomorrow is off, Thursday and Friday are 5 a piece, Saturday is off, and Sunday I have a 9-miler. ewwww.
7) The Madison half marathon is in 33 days. Yikes.
Thats all for now! I hope everyone (meaning the 6 people who read this :)) is enjoying this wonderful spring weather!!
Peace Easy
kv
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Oh Hey Blog...
Hi,
It's been a while...I'm sorry. Let's see what you've missed...
Over spring break I ran my first 9-miler. It was really nice weather, but no matter how fast or slow I went my legs just ached and ached. Heart rate was pretty low, but my legs were pretty sore for the lats 2 miles. I also ran to my high school track and hung out with the track team for a little bit. I tried doing an easy hurdle workout with the girls: 2xhurdles-100m down and 100m back. After doing that, I realized that marathon shape does NOT mean sprinting shape. Holey Moley. But it was fun to hang out with the youngins again.
Last week: back to school. It was a nutso week, bouncing between studying for my art pisstory exam on Thurs and going back to Milwaukee on Wed for an interview with American Eagle and then coming back to Madison at night. Needless to say I only got in 19 miles. Finished the week off with visiting Katie's family in Chicago! Like she said, we had an amazing weekend, and met with "Cubicle Dad" and ran 8 miles of hills. Ooh baby, that was a good one. It actually wasn't all that bad with each mile being broken up. Shout out to our friend Jacque who hasn't worked out in a while and jumped in to do all 8 miles with us. Wow. And shout out to our friend Marie who did 3.6 with shitty knee problems, you go girl.
To start off this week, I ran my world record 3 miler in 24:14. Soon into the run I realized that eating Gardettos and drinking Squirt beforehand was a bad decision...Friday I'm supposed to do a 10 miler...ohhh boy. I don't really know where I should go. Somewhere flat, but then again that's almost impossible in Madison.
OH MY GOD! Biggest and bestest news EVER:
I'M OFFICIALLY REGISTERED FOR THE MARATHON!!! Like omg totes official like forreal forreal. I'm running for a charity called Girls in the Game (http://www.girlsinthegame.org/) that support young girls being healthy and involved with sports to develop confidence and leadership skills. I just got emailed all of the fundraising details so I'll have to check those out. But now Katie officially won't be running by herself! Yay :)
Tomorrow's going to be a high of 77 degrees. Time to bust out the tank tops!
It's good to be back.
~A
It's been a while...I'm sorry. Let's see what you've missed...
Over spring break I ran my first 9-miler. It was really nice weather, but no matter how fast or slow I went my legs just ached and ached. Heart rate was pretty low, but my legs were pretty sore for the lats 2 miles. I also ran to my high school track and hung out with the track team for a little bit. I tried doing an easy hurdle workout with the girls: 2xhurdles-100m down and 100m back. After doing that, I realized that marathon shape does NOT mean sprinting shape. Holey Moley. But it was fun to hang out with the youngins again.
Last week: back to school. It was a nutso week, bouncing between studying for my art pisstory exam on Thurs and going back to Milwaukee on Wed for an interview with American Eagle and then coming back to Madison at night. Needless to say I only got in 19 miles. Finished the week off with visiting Katie's family in Chicago! Like she said, we had an amazing weekend, and met with "Cubicle Dad" and ran 8 miles of hills. Ooh baby, that was a good one. It actually wasn't all that bad with each mile being broken up. Shout out to our friend Jacque who hasn't worked out in a while and jumped in to do all 8 miles with us. Wow. And shout out to our friend Marie who did 3.6 with shitty knee problems, you go girl.
To start off this week, I ran my world record 3 miler in 24:14. Soon into the run I realized that eating Gardettos and drinking Squirt beforehand was a bad decision...Friday I'm supposed to do a 10 miler...ohhh boy. I don't really know where I should go. Somewhere flat, but then again that's almost impossible in Madison.
OH MY GOD! Biggest and bestest news EVER:
I'M OFFICIALLY REGISTERED FOR THE MARATHON!!! Like omg totes official like forreal forreal. I'm running for a charity called Girls in the Game (http://www.girlsinthegame.org/) that support young girls being healthy and involved with sports to develop confidence and leadership skills. I just got emailed all of the fundraising details so I'll have to check those out. But now Katie officially won't be running by herself! Yay :)
Tomorrow's going to be a high of 77 degrees. Time to bust out the tank tops!
It's good to be back.
~A
Sunday, April 11, 2010
CHICAGO!
This weekend, my friends (Alyssa, Marie and Jacque) and I took a weekend trip to Chicago, to relax and sight see and sleep a lot. Well...we saw the sights. Not sure if I allowed for much relaxing or sleeping. But that's beside the point.
Last Thursday, I saw Dan (Cubicle Dad)'s status on Facebook, something about how he was dreading the hill and puke blah blah blah, and I thought, "well, Alyssa and I will be in the area, we have to do 8 miles, a run like that is fun in a group, we should do it!". So I emailed Dan and asked for directions, without consulting Alyssa. (I'm a good friend like that...). Then Marie and Jacque (who are NOT training for the marathon and do not deserve to get their asses kicked at 7am on a Saturday), decided that they too wished to run up and down a hill for hours on end. I hang out with some weird people. But we get along great...
Fast forward to Saturday morning. I had set my alarm for 6am, thinking we could be out the door by 6:15 and to the hill by 7. When I woke up, I realized that it was way too light out to be 6 am, and when I looked at the clock it was 6:42. Dammit. Now I had a decision to make. I could either send Dan an email explaining what had happened, apologize profusely, and sleep an extra 3 hours, OR I could run downstairs, drag everyone out of bed and get to the hill a little late. Because I am THAT GOOD of a friend, I ran downstairs and asked what everyone else wanted to do. The 3 sleeping faces that looked up at me did not look happy with the idea of getting out of bed, but I knew that I had told Dan I would be there, and because I was set on going my amazing friends were too. (Im telling you, they are nuts...)
I would tell you how fast we got there, but all I can say is traffic was light and we made good time (always doing the speed limit...mom....). We rolled up in true Madison form, late, frantic, unprepared, but totally ready to go. We all just jumped in and hung on. It was awesome. I got to talk to Dan, and I met Dave, the guy who ran the marathon with my cousin Lauren last fall and wrote all about it (he was much nicer than Dan and Lauren described him...). As my friends and I ran back and forth, we laughed about crew workouts, sweated, swore, discussed what foods we would eat when we were done, and had a blast. Props to Marie and Jacque for even entertaining the idea of hills, let alone RUNNING THEM with us. When all was said and done, we were all glad we went, and I know that it was one of the best training runs I have done so far.
We got back from the hill, ate waffles (shout out to my Dad...), showered, lounged for a bit, then went downtown to the Museum of Science and Industry and fought past crowds of little kids to play with all the cool stuff. Then we went on a sweet segway tour (pictures to follow...) of the city, and made it home for some dinner (shout out to Mama V...) and a late night viewing of the ever-epic movie, "Space Jam".
All in all, a pretty kick ass Saturday!
:)
kv
Last Thursday, I saw Dan (Cubicle Dad)'s status on Facebook, something about how he was dreading the hill and puke blah blah blah, and I thought, "well, Alyssa and I will be in the area, we have to do 8 miles, a run like that is fun in a group, we should do it!". So I emailed Dan and asked for directions, without consulting Alyssa. (I'm a good friend like that...). Then Marie and Jacque (who are NOT training for the marathon and do not deserve to get their asses kicked at 7am on a Saturday), decided that they too wished to run up and down a hill for hours on end. I hang out with some weird people. But we get along great...
Fast forward to Saturday morning. I had set my alarm for 6am, thinking we could be out the door by 6:15 and to the hill by 7. When I woke up, I realized that it was way too light out to be 6 am, and when I looked at the clock it was 6:42. Dammit. Now I had a decision to make. I could either send Dan an email explaining what had happened, apologize profusely, and sleep an extra 3 hours, OR I could run downstairs, drag everyone out of bed and get to the hill a little late. Because I am THAT GOOD of a friend, I ran downstairs and asked what everyone else wanted to do. The 3 sleeping faces that looked up at me did not look happy with the idea of getting out of bed, but I knew that I had told Dan I would be there, and because I was set on going my amazing friends were too. (Im telling you, they are nuts...)
I would tell you how fast we got there, but all I can say is traffic was light and we made good time (always doing the speed limit...mom....). We rolled up in true Madison form, late, frantic, unprepared, but totally ready to go. We all just jumped in and hung on. It was awesome. I got to talk to Dan, and I met Dave, the guy who ran the marathon with my cousin Lauren last fall and wrote all about it (he was much nicer than Dan and Lauren described him...). As my friends and I ran back and forth, we laughed about crew workouts, sweated, swore, discussed what foods we would eat when we were done, and had a blast. Props to Marie and Jacque for even entertaining the idea of hills, let alone RUNNING THEM with us. When all was said and done, we were all glad we went, and I know that it was one of the best training runs I have done so far.
We got back from the hill, ate waffles (shout out to my Dad...), showered, lounged for a bit, then went downtown to the Museum of Science and Industry and fought past crowds of little kids to play with all the cool stuff. Then we went on a sweet segway tour (pictures to follow...) of the city, and made it home for some dinner (shout out to Mama V...) and a late night viewing of the ever-epic movie, "Space Jam".
All in all, a pretty kick ass Saturday!
:)
kv
Friday, April 9, 2010
Dragging...
Ah! Its been almost a week since I updated. Oops!
The mileage is really starting to build. When I started this schedule, running 14 miles in a week took it all out of me. This week, I ran 26.5. Part of that huge jump is because I did 2.5 extra miles on Saturday's long run, but still, thats a big jump. By the end of this 18 week buildup schedule, I will be running about 35 miles/week.
Here's how this week broke down for me:
Saturday: 9.5 miles with Lauren and Dan
Sunday: EASTER
Monday: 5 miles, nothing too fancy
Tuesday: (this is where the dragging ass came in. I could not get motivated to get off the couch and just run. So I broke schedule and took Tuesday off instead of Wednesday...)
Wednesday: 4 miles, out and back, first two at about 11:20 pace, second two at 7:15 and 8:34. I was happy with this workout, I knew I wanted to push the pace the second half but I did not know I had a 7:15 mile in me. Yayy fitness.
Thursday: 4 miles, hills, ew.
Friday (today): OFF!!
Tomorrow I think I am going to go run hills with Dan from Cubicle dad. Im going to be in Chicago for a weekend with my friends, and since they are running before anyone will even be awake, that should work out just fine! I am looking forward to a workout that will really push me. Especially after all of the ass dragging that took place this week.
Happy Friday! Hopefully this nasty weather realizes its April now and gives us a splendid weekend!!
kv
The mileage is really starting to build. When I started this schedule, running 14 miles in a week took it all out of me. This week, I ran 26.5. Part of that huge jump is because I did 2.5 extra miles on Saturday's long run, but still, thats a big jump. By the end of this 18 week buildup schedule, I will be running about 35 miles/week.
Here's how this week broke down for me:
Saturday: 9.5 miles with Lauren and Dan
Sunday: EASTER
Monday: 5 miles, nothing too fancy
Tuesday: (this is where the dragging ass came in. I could not get motivated to get off the couch and just run. So I broke schedule and took Tuesday off instead of Wednesday...)
Wednesday: 4 miles, out and back, first two at about 11:20 pace, second two at 7:15 and 8:34. I was happy with this workout, I knew I wanted to push the pace the second half but I did not know I had a 7:15 mile in me. Yayy fitness.
Thursday: 4 miles, hills, ew.
Friday (today): OFF!!
Tomorrow I think I am going to go run hills with Dan from Cubicle dad. Im going to be in Chicago for a weekend with my friends, and since they are running before anyone will even be awake, that should work out just fine! I am looking forward to a workout that will really push me. Especially after all of the ass dragging that took place this week.
Happy Friday! Hopefully this nasty weather realizes its April now and gives us a splendid weekend!!
kv
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Its a miracle!!
Today I ran 9.5 miles with my cousin, Lauren, and one of her friends, Dan Malinski of Cubicle Dad! This is 2.5 miles longer than anything I had ever run before, so all things considered, I am feeling pretty good! We ran out by Dan's house through some pretty forest preserve areas (there were tons of deer. It was kind of freaky. Do they realize where they are?).
Anyway, when Lauren said I should run for two hours with them, all I could think was: HELL NO. Two hours is a long time. If I dont eat for two hours I usually get hungry. Two hours is four episodes of Barney (thats how I used to tell time when I was little, I would ask how many Barneys until...) I was fully expecting to die after an hour and a half, and I could envision them leaving me in the dust and gravel as I crawled amongst the deer on my hands and knees. But that did not happen. I kept up with them! I did not whine, I did not crawl, I did not throw up or pass out or get hungry. I ran for 2 hours straight and I am still alive. Truly, an Easter miracle.
I really enjoyed running with people. Usually I am an antisocial exerciser, I like to put in the earbuds and not talk, because I don't like to waste precious air on the spoken word. But today I realized what "conversational pace" means. It means a pace where you can talk and run. At the same time. Without feeling like you are going to puke/pass out/cramp up/die. And you know what? I like conversational pace. It was enjoyable and relaxing, and fun! Lets be honest, I never lack words to say when I am not running, so why should that change just because I am! I am praying that Lauren and Dan were not ready to kill me, with my chatter and skipping and jumping and questions and hurdling trees. They were awesome to run with and I can't wait to annoy them for 15 whole miles next time. ;)
I am going to continue my eating/napping/watching spongebob schedule for the rest of the evening. Then watch "The Ten Commandments" circa 1956 featuring Charlton Heston as Moses/God. Gotta love these Valenti Family traditions!
Happy Easter to all!
kv
Anyway, when Lauren said I should run for two hours with them, all I could think was: HELL NO. Two hours is a long time. If I dont eat for two hours I usually get hungry. Two hours is four episodes of Barney (thats how I used to tell time when I was little, I would ask how many Barneys until...) I was fully expecting to die after an hour and a half, and I could envision them leaving me in the dust and gravel as I crawled amongst the deer on my hands and knees. But that did not happen. I kept up with them! I did not whine, I did not crawl, I did not throw up or pass out or get hungry. I ran for 2 hours straight and I am still alive. Truly, an Easter miracle.
I really enjoyed running with people. Usually I am an antisocial exerciser, I like to put in the earbuds and not talk, because I don't like to waste precious air on the spoken word. But today I realized what "conversational pace" means. It means a pace where you can talk and run. At the same time. Without feeling like you are going to puke/pass out/cramp up/die. And you know what? I like conversational pace. It was enjoyable and relaxing, and fun! Lets be honest, I never lack words to say when I am not running, so why should that change just because I am! I am praying that Lauren and Dan were not ready to kill me, with my chatter and skipping and jumping and questions and hurdling trees. They were awesome to run with and I can't wait to annoy them for 15 whole miles next time. ;)
I am going to continue my eating/napping/watching spongebob schedule for the rest of the evening. Then watch "The Ten Commandments" circa 1956 featuring Charlton Heston as Moses/God. Gotta love these Valenti Family traditions!
Happy Easter to all!
kv
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