I can't sleep, so I figured I'd come on here (it's been awhile) and give an update.
Last Sunday was my first race ever! 5K and it felt so good. My goal was to run the whole way without stopping - ACCOMPLISHED. I'm still not really working on speed, as I'm running at somewhere between an 11 and 12 minute/mile pace. I'm glad to have the first race out of the way and I made sure to get the t-shirt to prove I finished!
** Funny side story: on my way home from the race I was driving, with my race number still pinned to my shirt and I guess I must have been kind of excited because I got pulled over for speeding. I was clocked at over 10 miles over the speed limit and was really bummed...only to find out that the cop was going to let me go with a warning! (Not sure why, but I'm thinking it's because he saw my outfit and didn't want to ruin my day after I just ran in a race?? - I'm thinking maybe I should carry around the race number just in case I get pulled over again...any chance it might work twice?? Lol.)
Anyways, back to the running. I took Monday off this week because after the race I also played soccer for a couple hours and thought my body could probably use the extra rest. The plan was to go 4 miles (for the 2nd time) on Wednesday, 3 miles on Thursday, and 6 miles (for the FIRST time ever!!) on Saturday...EEEK!
This was a big week for my training. I was assessing my training plan and in order to be ready for the 10 miler at the end of September that I want to do, I needed to log that long 6 mile run THIS week to be on schedule. I was so intimidated and nervous, but with my ipod on and my mind right, I even managed to exceed my goals!!
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Saturday (Today): 6.5 miles
I'm super happy with my training this week and hope the success continues! I do want to caution myself to not get too crazy though and stick to the plan as much as possible from here on out because I really don't want to risk injury...
(During my run today I probably had the will and mental stamina to carry me through 9 miles...thankfully I stopped, I'm pretty sure my body would not be too happy about that!)
**Another side note: Since I started running this year I've been getting side aches almost every time I run and it's a real bummer. I've been looking online and asking around as to what I can do to prevent this from happening. On a couple websites I heard people saying that sometimes the reason people get side aches is because they breathe out when their right foot hits the ground (most people's side aches are on the right side) - they said something about how since most of our organs are on the right side, breathing out when our right foot hits the ground causes a lot more stress on the organs which leads to the side aches...so for the last few runs I've been practicing (although not the whole time, cause it's hard work thinking about your breathing and intentionally doing it differently than you would naturally!) breathing out when my left foot hits the ground....AND.....POOF! - NO SIDE ACHES! (Is it all in my head? I don't know, but I'm going to continue to practice this new way of breathing!)
