Flash flood warnings and storm threats prevented me from venturing outside for my seven to eight mile "quality" run this evening. Bummer. My previous planned was to run to an extremely steep and intimidating hill (about two miles from my apartment) and do some hill workouts and then run home. It sounds pretty horrible but I was actually looking forward to it. It's something new and a workout I've been thinking about doing for awhile. Since it was pouring too intensly for that, I changed right when I got home from work and headed to the fitness center at my apartment. A fast-paced forty-five minute elliptcal workout allowed me to break a good sweat, feeling like I got a sufficient workout. Even though I don't mind the elliptical, I'd rather the feeling of covering some ground and not being stationary. Oh well - you adapt and move on! FYI (because I don't think I've said it yet) I took yesterday off after running my long run on Sunday.
From experience ...
On another note, one of my biggest challenges lately have been drinking enough water. For some reason I get on these soda kicks - or anything with flavor. It is diet soda at least, but still ... not good when you are running and working out as frequently as I am. Drinking water has been a forced action for me lately. When I do get enough of that good ol' H2O I feel significantly better when I'm training; I even feel lighter. If you don't consume enough water, your body holds onto all the liquid it gets because it basically doesn't trust that it will get much more throughout the day (the simpler way of putting it). Well, put two and two together - that makes you bloated and gives you the feeling of carrying extra unnecessary weight. Soda also contains a great deal of sodium, which causes bloating as well.
That leads me into the fun fact I wanted to share with you! Next time you hit the pavement, max out at the gym or get a good sweat with a small home workout - grab a beer afterwards to rehydrate! Yup - a beer! "According to a research, a glass of beer is far better at rehydrating the body than water after exercise. The sugar, salt and bubbles in a pint may help people absorb fluids more quickly, the study claims." (Source) FoxNews only claimed it was slightly better than drinking a glass of water but hey - ever little bit helps, right? (Source) This makes sense when race organizers offer beer once you cross the finish line. I've heard that some races even offer a beer during the race but I can't imagine that. Beer isn't something that I would want to push me to the finish line; however, I would run faster to get to the finish line for that beer ... for the hydration of course! :-)
Hopefully the rain takes a hike so I can possibly fit in that hill workout tomorrow. If it's not raining too hard I have no problem running in the rain - even makes me feel like I'm working a little harder. But today was just too ridiculous to do anything outside. If I do get to do it, I'll definitely be sharing and hopefully I'll even get the chance to snap a picture of this monstrous hill to share as well!
Talk to you soon! Have a great night!
- merebrown01
- Raleigh, NC, United States
- Ex-field hockey player turned runner! After school I started running to keep in shape. I ran a few shorter races until I played a hand on a marathon. I qualified for the Boston Marathon on the first shot and then qualified again. There's nothing like pushing yourself so hard for something that not everyone has the guts to do ... and experiencing a rewarding accomplishment. These are my thoughts when I'm hitting the pavement.
Showing posts with label water belt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water belt. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
14 and Cruising!
It's been awhile! Sorry about that ... I had a busy weekend and then wasn't feeling great today.
Back to training. Last Friday I was good and didn't do anything active. I was hoping for another successful long run like the week before. I was almost superstitious in how I spent the night before the 14-miler, imitating the same routine from the previous Friday. In the back of my head I couldn't keep from worrying about my ankle and how that might feel for 14 miles. I dug up my hockey gear knowing there had to be some kind of ankle brace or wrap that I could use. Ankle injuries aren't a foreign occurrence for me ... high ankle sprains, regular ankle sprains - you name it, I had it. I even played with a walking cast my junior year at IU during field hockey season. Anyway, my confidence was right on the money ... low and behold, an ankle brace. I threw that on top of my already prepared pile of running stuff for the next morning including my running clothes, shoes, Garmin watch, water bottle belt and the GU. My sister gave me her running belt to use the week before and it came in handy. There are far too many runs where I am dying for water toward the end. There's also a pocket attached, which is nice for my GU.
Waking up to "All I Want To Do" by Sugarland doesn't get me excited as I was hoping it would ... but that's what I got to wake up to at 6:45 last Saturday morning. After rolling around in my bed for a few minutes, I got up, got dressed, brushed my teeth and then armed myself. I feel like I'm going to war with all that stuff I have. Each run I leave my apartment with something new. This time I took my phone just in case I needed to call someone to pick me up if my ankle acted up. I also had a route written out on a little piece of paper. It's a good skeleton and then with my Garmin I can fudge it how I want to. So am I ready to go? Ankle brace ... check. Watch ... check. Water belt ... check. GU ... check. Phone ... check. Directions ... check. Yup - here goes nothing. Just going on another run - like any other run I've walked out the door for.
Other than having to loosen the brace somewhere in that first mile (it's probably good to keep blood circulating), it was an excellent run! I felt very good despite normal aches and pains. It was even a hilly course and that didn't get to me much either. I stopped once around the seven and a half mile mark and did the GU. This time I tried the tri berry GU and actually kind of liked it. That was a first for me (trying the gel GU, that is) but it's just as it sounds, berry-flavored gel. It surprised me how much of it there was though, which kind of grossed me out after awhile. My ankle cooperated more or less. I catered to it during the last four miles when it started to hurt again. I had to be careful pushing off it when running up hills and then when I was running up and down the curbs and in the grass when there wasn't a sidewalk. My finishing pace was a nine minute mile and I'm definitely okay with that.
To make a long story short, I took off Sunday and enjoyed watching the Eagles beat the Panthers in Charlotte. Today I took it easy too as I wasn't feeling up to par. I get pretty bad headaches and I woke up with a screaming one this morning. I attempted the elliptical a little later in the evening. Easy did it. Tomorrow I'm scheduled for a seven- to eight-mile run; we'll see how many I feel like doing, or have time to do.
Check out the new week's training schedule on the side bar! :-) Thanks for reading and happy running!!
Back to training. Last Friday I was good and didn't do anything active. I was hoping for another successful long run like the week before. I was almost superstitious in how I spent the night before the 14-miler, imitating the same routine from the previous Friday. In the back of my head I couldn't keep from worrying about my ankle and how that might feel for 14 miles. I dug up my hockey gear knowing there had to be some kind of ankle brace or wrap that I could use. Ankle injuries aren't a foreign occurrence for me ... high ankle sprains, regular ankle sprains - you name it, I had it. I even played with a walking cast my junior year at IU during field hockey season. Anyway, my confidence was right on the money ... low and behold, an ankle brace. I threw that on top of my already prepared pile of running stuff for the next morning including my running clothes, shoes, Garmin watch, water bottle belt and the GU. My sister gave me her running belt to use the week before and it came in handy. There are far too many runs where I am dying for water toward the end. There's also a pocket attached, which is nice for my GU.
Waking up to "All I Want To Do" by Sugarland doesn't get me excited as I was hoping it would ... but that's what I got to wake up to at 6:45 last Saturday morning. After rolling around in my bed for a few minutes, I got up, got dressed, brushed my teeth and then armed myself. I feel like I'm going to war with all that stuff I have. Each run I leave my apartment with something new. This time I took my phone just in case I needed to call someone to pick me up if my ankle acted up. I also had a route written out on a little piece of paper. It's a good skeleton and then with my Garmin I can fudge it how I want to. So am I ready to go? Ankle brace ... check. Watch ... check. Water belt ... check. GU ... check. Phone ... check. Directions ... check. Yup - here goes nothing. Just going on another run - like any other run I've walked out the door for.
Other than having to loosen the brace somewhere in that first mile (it's probably good to keep blood circulating), it was an excellent run! I felt very good despite normal aches and pains. It was even a hilly course and that didn't get to me much either. I stopped once around the seven and a half mile mark and did the GU. This time I tried the tri berry GU and actually kind of liked it. That was a first for me (trying the gel GU, that is) but it's just as it sounds, berry-flavored gel. It surprised me how much of it there was though, which kind of grossed me out after awhile. My ankle cooperated more or less. I catered to it during the last four miles when it started to hurt again. I had to be careful pushing off it when running up hills and then when I was running up and down the curbs and in the grass when there wasn't a sidewalk. My finishing pace was a nine minute mile and I'm definitely okay with that.
To make a long story short, I took off Sunday and enjoyed watching the Eagles beat the Panthers in Charlotte. Today I took it easy too as I wasn't feeling up to par. I get pretty bad headaches and I woke up with a screaming one this morning. I attempted the elliptical a little later in the evening. Easy did it. Tomorrow I'm scheduled for a seven- to eight-mile run; we'll see how many I feel like doing, or have time to do.
Check out the new week's training schedule on the side bar! :-) Thanks for reading and happy running!!
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