Yay, congrats! 
I’m afraid I haven’t measured my runs since I did 25 mins straight and up. I know when I ran 20 mins straight I did slightly more than 2 miles, but nothing else since then.
Yesterday was serious runny snot day. Good thing it is Thanksgiving break and not many people go to the gym at 9am on a Saturday morning anyways.
I got a huge charley horse about 10 minutes into my run, nearly fell on my face, and now have a pulled muscle in my right calf.
I’m feeling doomed at the moment.
I’m still here. I didn’t run yesterday due to just not wanting to and it was MF cold outside and I had to go get my car from the repair shop and and and and…
But I did run this morning and I’d call it serviceable. I managed a 10:1 right off, despite the temp of 19F out. I had worn a hat, which I promptly took off after the first 10 minutes. I have very thick hair and almost never need a hat. I managed two 6:1s after that and my course ended.
I find myself stuck a bit here: I have 2 routes, a 1.4 mile and a 1.9 mile. The next “around the block” or “running here makes sense” bit adds at least another .5-6 to my run. Thing is, I’m not sure (in the cold) if I want to add that much distance. I know, I’m a wuss. But I have figured out one thing with this new habit of mine: it’s mine to make what I want out of it. Never again will I feel like I “should” be at X place or “should” be able to do Y now etc. It is what it is. No doubt I’d get into shape more quickly if I did do it a different way, but the way I’m doing it fits my schedule and me. So, I’m not sure how or where to add distance at this point. Maybe I should just try to make the 1.9 my base run and go from there? This week might be a good one to do that… I am supposed to work on Friday, otherwise I would have signed up for the Gobbler Special/Turkey Run here in town. It’s a 5K that day. It sounds like fun! (I think I can do a 5K or at least try it–someday).
jsgoddess–hope the injury heals fast.
Zsofia–Don’t give up! I’ve found that just when I think I’ll never improve etc, I make a breakthrough. You can do this. It is worth it.
fisha–I may be out of date with this, but I thought that muscle weighs more than fat, so you may be gaining muscle and definition, but not losing any weight. Clothes should fit you better soon, if not already.
OK, I’m always in awe of those that can run outside when it is freaking cold (but then, anything under 70F is freaking cold to me)… Heck, it is even too cold inside the damn gym, I have to run to warm up!
Sniffles again today, but less than yesterday. Two more running days and then I’m off to NYC!
Question for runner pat or any other experienced runner:
My daughter (19) runs in Boston along the river. It’s freaking COLD now there, with the wind off the water. She is currently wearing a sports bra, a Nike longsleeved shirt (I think it’s gortex), another longsleeved shirt, sweatshirt, under-armor leggings. socks and shoes, with hat and mittens to run. Thing is, she’s out there for about 80 minutes.
She says she is cold to start with, about midway through she is dripping sweat, and then on her way home she is chilled due to the wet clothes/wind. What to do? I am not sure if her second shirt is cotton or not. She runs about 8 or so miles.
any suggestions for outer wear or inner layers for her? She says her bottom half is fine, but her top half is cold then hot/dripping, then cold again.
The under armor leggings and her legs feeling fine is a big clue.
Gortex is a jacket material not for wicking. Her first layer(against the skin) should Coolmax, Dri-Fit or something similar or wool. My guess is that the sweatshirt is cotton and not blocking the wind and that is her main problem. Also running into the wind on the return trip can be chilling. Her outermost layer should be a breathable windbreaker type jacket.
Missed edit window.
Here’s a post I made upthread about layering.
Sigh - I feel like all I do in this thread anymore is bitch and moan. Today was really, really sniffly (I forgot the nose spray thing - I hate using that stuff because I know it’s habit-forming and also it just sucks, but it does help with the sniffles a lot) and cold and then hot. I tried just doing my 20-minute route to try and breed success back, and I did do that fine except for maybe 20 feet of walking in the middle there. I may have run it a little bit faster. I just don’t seem to be able to increase my distance. I’m theoretically in week 9 now, and if the race schedules had been convenient I’d be running my 5K this weekend - so how the hell am I supposed to double my distance in a month when I haven’t been able to increase distance for weeks?
Also, and this is totally TMI,
halfway though my run today my butt crack started to itch like crazy and there was nothing that could be done about it. When I stopped running, it was fine. It was gross and sucky.
I knew gortex was the wrong brand name or word, but can’t come up with the one I want–maybe micro-fiber works. Sorry about that. I had read your previous post, but wondered if there was some secret long distance runner stuff I didn’t know about. Guess not. <sigh> She does say that running along the Charles is incredibly windy. I don’t know if the wind is variable or what (it may not be feasible for her to not run into the wind on the way home). She does have access to the uni’s amazing fitness center, so there is that option as well.
She should probably get an under armor long sleeved top–maybe Santa will be good to her.
Zsofia–that (to me) is one of the reasons for this thread–dump all that shit here. You’re not only complaining etc. You’ve been supportive of me and others here as well. Running is hard. Working out is hard. I am firmly of the belief that whining prevents high blood pressure and other bad things. Whine away. Sounds like your spoiler box issue might have been chafing? Owowowowow.
Could have also been an
ass hair issue.
I cannot believe I just typed that out in front of God and everybody.
Remember, God loves ALL of you. He may, but I don’t.
Ew!
As elenorigby said, this is the place for whining. Have at it.
I always get the sniffles and runny nose in cold weather, that’s what long sleeves are for. 
Don’t worry about the schedule, you’ve established the habit of moving. When you run your 5K, you’ll have lots of company and the extra distance will seem like nothing.
As for your itchy butt, we’ve all been there.
That didn’t come out right.
I had to take about week off, due to not feeling well and being overwhelmed at work, but I started back today with W4D1. And it seriously kicked my butt. I never thought I was going to finish it, but I did. I can see why people repeat this week. The three minute run isn’t all that bad, but the five minute one is endless!
I have no idea how fast I’m going, but I know it’s S-L-O-W. My “run” speed isn’t much faster than my walk speed. I like Miss Mossie’s idea of just getting through the program now and building up speed after the 9 weeks are over. And I’m like several of y’all and haven’t lost an ounce. Does weight loss pick up once you start going for 20 minutes straight?
I have happy, happy tears in my eyes right now. I just finished a very slightly modified w4d1! I added an extra half minute of walking to the last set of walking and set the incline to zero and the speed to 4.8mph (instead of the incline of 1 and 5mph I had been running at), but I did all that running! I ran for sixteen minutes tonight! Nobody in my family is the least bit athletic and I just ran for sixteen minutes. This is huge. It was really hard and I might have muttered some rather un-nunly words, but I did it!
Thank you all for your support. You helped get me through it. Knowing that I would be able to come upstairs and post this got me through that final five minutes. Thank you.
Un-nunly?
I don’t think I know any nunly words.
Congrats on your achievement! 16 minutes if EFFING AWESOME, DUDE! (how’s that for un-nunly?).
Yay Miss Mossie! And everyone else who’s still on the program! I’ve been a slug since last Saturday. I have just been too busy to get out and I won’t have a chance till after Thanksgiving. I do have a 5K on December 13, so I know I have to get out there and train. I’m pretty bummed that I can’t for a few more days.
Clothilde, MissMossie, fantastic work on week 4! We’re all impressed by you.
I’m encouraged by my calf muscle. It hurt a lot for about three hours, but now it’s just a little tight. Either I have amazing recuperative powers, or I was being a weenie before. (Frankly, I’m hoping for the amazing recuperative powers, but I’ll settle for weenie!)
Re: speed…I found that approach to be best. Just get the distance down, speed will come. When I first started running, I averaged 10-minute miles. I’ve never done a lick of speedwork and now my average (i.e., non-racing) speed is 9-minute miles and when I’m racing, I can get down near 8-mm. Not breaking any records, to be sure, but again, I’ve never worked at it. This is just what happened over the course of time and consistency.
As for weight loss, running by itself doesn’t do much. 1 mile burns 100 calories, so you’d have to run 35 miles to lose a pound, if nothing else changed. Someone upthread said it…run for fitness, eat to lose weight. I have found that I do shed pounds more easily when I run between 20 and 25 miles per week. If I get over 25 miles per week, I start eating like a maniac. That’s why a lot of trainers will tell marathon-newbies that training for a marathon is NOT going to help you lose weight.
Now, I have to get my butt out of the door.
How’s your stress fracture?
It’s healed up. I go back next week for a final check. I’m still on restricted running, in a sense—I run about 1/3 of the amount that I had been before, and do much more XTraining, mostly non-impact stuff like Spinning.
[hijack] How are you? Are you traveling for T-giving, or staying local? [/hijack]