Gym, again

Since my work has a group discount at the Y, I figured I should join since I am not exactly running lately. There are a few reasons for this: my hip pain is back, and is in both hips now. Also, since I work nights, it is often too dark to go out and safely run on the trails, and the roads definitely exacerbate the pain. Hopefully I will get back into this and strengthen my legs so my hips stop hurting. I am going to start icing them more frequently, and probably will do more stretches.

This morning after work, I did my first workout at the Y. It was awesome. I was going to swim, but sometimes it is hard to stay focused in the pool, esp after I work the night before so I decided to do some cardio stuff. I ran on the TM for 10 mins and then hit the erg. I did a 2k in 9:22.8. It was amazing, and has to be some kind of record for me! I am debating going back this afternoon for a swim....we'll see.

Candy Cane Dash!

At like 2:00 this morning, I decided that I would run in the Candy Cane Dash today. It's kind of a Shoreline/Shorecrest tradition, so that was cool. Didn't see anyone that I went to school with, but that's probably good. So I got up at 7:30 to run a race at 9 in the middle of all this other stuff we have going on. It was a nice distraction and it was a good way to guarantee I would get my run in today, and not feel bad about not running tomorrow :)

My sister and her best friend have a case of "too cool-itis" so they were being moody teens the whole time, but Allie did finish in 31 mins. I did it in 31:43. Hopefully next 5k I will do better than 30 mins. That's the hope.

Races are really fun, and I need new shoes, like yesterday. I got a blister, again. So I really need new shoes and a new warm longsleeve. This one chafes a lot since it is so old.

Woo hoo!

10k!!!!

This morning I ran in the DVSAS 10k to Run for the End of Domestic Violence. The race went really well. I was really nervous about doing a 6.2 mile race since I maybe have only ever run that far a few times, but probably not recently. And, yes, 6.2 miles is a LONG way. Some of those miles mapped out seemed REALLY long on the course today. I did really well though--ran the whole time and finished in 1:07...I cannot believe I ran for a whole hour. Crazy. And that time is way better than my 5k time last February, so now I want to run a 5k and see how fast I can finish. I am hooked on racing for sure.

The race was even at Donovan Park, which is kind of behind Whatcom Falls Park on Lake Whatcom so we rode our bikes there this morning. Jake was not happy with rolling out of bed and hopping on his bike without breakfast. Not my fault that he slept that late. Though I was too tired after the race to ride our bikes home so we rode home with my friend Maria and then we all took showers. Jake and I drove back to the park later to get the bikes.

Yesterday, I swam since I wanted to work out but also wanted to give my legs a break in preparation for today. I even got out the kickboard and leg floaty, which is odd because I usually just swim the whole time I'm there. I wanted to be sure I could rest my body equally while working out and that way I could just work my upper body which I really need since I run and bike most of the time. Overall the swim felt really good too, so I'm excited to get back into that too. I am thinking that tomorrow I will hit the pool for long slow laps after I get off work.

Other than that, I ran every day this week except for Wednesday (I think).

Coming up this week is probably:
Sunday: easy swim
Monday: easy run
Tuesday: Run or bike
Wednesday: Swim
Thursday: run
Friday: bike or run
Saturday: swim or rest

I also saw the water polo balls in the utility room at the pool. I would love to start playing water polo but I don't think there are any rec leagues in Bellingham :(

race tomorrow, good run this morning, even on no sleep

This morning, I had a great run. This was pretty surprising since I haven't slept yet and I have pretty much just eaten garbage all week and haven't worked out since my ballet class on Monday...yeah, it's Friday. It is 7:29 am and I haven't slept yet. Actually ended up working a 14 hr shift last night (did I mention I LOVE overtime? so of course I said yes). Actually worked a 14hr shift last night but need to stay up until 10am to make it to class today. I know if I sleep between now and then I won't get up, so I figured a run would be a good way to recharge. So far, it feels pretty good, esp since it was a really good run. I got my mile time down to 9:02, and the second mile was 9:24...I would have gone longer today, but wanted to quit while I was still feeling good considering the garbage food and lack of sleep. Tomorrow morning should be pretty good. The plan is to get up at 7, eat a light breakfast, run around a bit to warm up and go. I'm just going to treat it like a regular run and not psyche myself out. It should be a pretty good run though, especially after today's.