Why I Joined a Running Club

I am not going to do my weekly recap as I normally do because I don't have anything to recap. I am sure you don't want to hear me talk about how I have not been running so I won't do that either. I think I  just will talk about the other exciting things in my life like my new running club. I have a lot to be thankful for so I am staying as positive as I can about this whole hip issue.

I was planning on going to my first meeting with the club on Saturday but I knew that I would have been tempted to run. I decided to wait until I can run again since it might be weird to show up at a running club if you can't run. Hopefully that will be really soon. I have been wanting to join a running club for a while but just haven't taken the time to do it.  I wanted to join a running club for a few reasons so here are just a few reasons why I decided to do it.

1) I am tired of running those long runs all by myself. Those 20 milers can be pretty brutal when you are out there by yourself.

2) Time flies when you run with a group or even with one other person. I used to run with my close friend but once her husband passed away her desire to run just kind of went away. I have been trying to get her back into running but I can see that right now she just isn't ready. I miss running with her so I figured that joining a running club would give me some company and give me an opportunity to meet some new people who also love running.

3) I like the idea of meeting other people who share the same passion as I do. I think that this like-mindedness (is that even a word) is great because it causes us to motivate each other, share training ideas, share our achievements and it is also a safer environment than just running alone.

4) I feel like I need to change things up. I sometimes feel like I am stuck in a typical routine and running the same old routes that I always train on. I think this will be a nice change of scenery for me. Running in new places always makes me feel refreshed and I kind of like the idea of not having to map out a 15 mile route or a 20 mile route for my long run.

These are just a few reasons why I joined a running club. I am sure there are a million benefits to being a member of a running club which I will soon find out.

Are you a member of a running club?

Tell me some of the benefits that you have discovered to being a member of a running club.

Three Things Thursday

1) I have not gone for a run in five whole days! Yes, five whole days! I don't have any exciting news to share about running because today makes the fifth day of no running. Am I repeating myself? I am dealing with it way better than I thought I would. This might sound weird but it has been kind of nice to come home and relax and take care of the things that I normally put off for the weekend.

2) When I can't run I kind of go on these missions where I do things that are related to running like shopping for running clothes and shoes. I didn't do that this time around but I did do something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. I joined a running club! I am kind of tired of running those long runs alone so I am thinking this change will be kind of nice.

3) The Ventura Marathon is next Sunday which also happens to be my 21st birthday. I have not made a decision as to whether or not I will run. I know that I want to but what I want to do and the right thing to do are two different things. The deadline to defer the race is Tuesday, September 2nd. The race director is not charging any fees for deferring this year which is really nice of him. I will make my final decision by next Tuesday. Pray for me!

Weekly Recap (8/18-8/24)

I think I am dealing with a case of hip bursitis. My hip never hurts when I run but I do wake up with some discomfort in the morning so his past week has been all about keeping the hip happy and trying to make it feel better. I have been faithfully icing my hip and doing hip stretching and strengthening exercises every morning and every night. It was a pretty boring and sad week for me but I will tell you about it anyway...

Monday: REST DAY from running. Hip stretching and strengthening exercises, planked and did some push ups.

Tuesday: 7 Miles@ 8:05 avg. pace/I warmed up and then pushed the pace from Miles 3-7 to see if my hip would hurt and it did not. Amen for that but I did have some really minor pain the next day so I iced it and decided that I needed to take a few days off.

Wednesday: REST DAY with hip stretches and strengthening exercises.

Thursday: REST DAY with hip stretches and strengthening exercises.

Friday: REST DAY with hip stretches and strengthening exercises.

Saturday: 20 Miles@ 8:49/ I woke up with no hip pain so I decided to go for a run to see how I felt. I had no pain so I just went for it. I really needed to get this last long run in so that I could start making plans for Ventura in two weeks. I attempted to take an ice bath after my run and it was pretty traumatic. I kept jumping in and out of the tub because it was painfully cold! I am not sure when I will attempt this again.

Sunday: Hip pain was back again so I decided that I am going to take some more time off at this point until the pain goes away. BOO!

TOTAL MILES: 27 miles

This whole hip issue is kind of messing with my race plans in two weeks. I really wanted to run the full marathon but it looks like maybe it is not going to happen if this hip pain continues. I am hoping for some relief so that I can still run the half but if not then the birthday race is off the calendar. I am bummed but I am glad that I did not have big plans for this race or else I would be beyond bummed at this point!

Have you ever had a case of hip bursitis?

 Any advice...besides rest and stop running :(

Weekly Recap (8/11-8/17)

Three weeks to go and I have been leaning towards running the marathon but then this hip pain decided to make an appearance this week. Thankfully I have no goals for this race and I will just run to celebrate my birthday or else I would be pretty bummed right now. In any case, it was a disappointing week for me with very low mileage due to the left hip pain. It is VERY HARD to skip a long run but I know I am doing the right thing. In the end I know that I will thank myself for being a smart runner and playing it smart. Live and Learn!

Monday: Rest Day with some push ups, squats and exercises with the medicine ball.

Tuesday: 7 Mile Tempo @8:22/This run was really rough. The winds were super strong the first two miles and I started in 89 degree heat. You can kind of see where I am going with this one. The rest of the run was a fight to finish. I was hoping for Miles 3-6 to be under 8:00 but that was not happening on this particular day!

Wednesday: Rest Day- I woke up with some pain in my left hip so I did some stretches for my hips and took a break from running.

Thursday: My hip felt okay so I did 5 Easy Miles @10:11 pace. I met up with Megan at the crack of dawn (explains why the picture is so dark) to attend the #blogfest #funrun. We parked a mile from the Anaheim Convention Center and then ran the 3 mile fun run and then the final mile back to our cars.  I was too cheap to pay the $20 parking fee at the convention center so I forced Megan to run two extra miles with me.

Friday and Saturday: Rest Days since my hip pain returned on Friday morning! It felt better on Saturday but I didn't want to chance it and run. I did some stretches for my hip and lots of icing throughout the day.

Sunday: 6 Easy Miles @10:09/My hip felt much better and I had zero pain while running. I never felt any pain at all when I was running but the pain seems to appear a few hours after running or the next morning.

Total Miles: 18 (BOO!)

It was a pretty crappy week in terms of mileage since I skipped my long run which was supposed to be 20 miles. I hope I can run it next week or else I might have to finalize my plans for Ventura and just run the half which I am totally fine with since I have Long Beach coming up really soon. 

How was your week? Any races coming up?

Marathon Training (8/4-8/10)

Can you believe that the Ventura Marathon is just four weeks away? I am really starting to get nervous about it! The hot weather was really scaring me at first but it is comforting to know that the weather in Ventura, CA has been much better than what I have been experiencing!

Weather in Ventura, CA

Weather  in My City versus

I took advantage of the small drop in the temperatures this past week because I have heard that the heat will be back this week. I haven't ran on the treadmill in over a week because I was really getting burned out and felt like I need to log more road miles. 

Here is what I did this week:

Monday: Rest Day from running but did some push-ups, squats and other strength training with my medicine ball.

Tuesday: 8.5 Mile Tempo Run/8:00 avg./I finally had a decent run and it felt good to hit some sub 8:00 miles out on the road. By the end of the day, my legs were pretty sore. I am sure it was from the squats the day before and not from the run.

Wednesday: Rest Day from running but did some core work. My legs were still a little sore so I knew I needed to take a day off from running to recover for my next run.

Thursday: 6.2 Miles @8:16 avg. pace/We have been going to the local bike trail versus the gym lately. It was 80 degrees and a bit windy so it wasn't that bad. The first two miles (8:46, 8:47) were a little tough since they were slightly uphill with a head wind. The last 4.2 miles were much better and I felt pretty good so I pushed it a little bit (8:13, 8:22, 7:59, 7:40.)

Friday: Rest Day from running but did some strength training. I took my grandma to visit my grandpa's grave since it was his birthday. He would have been 78 years old.

Saturday: 15 Miles@9.44 avg. pace. I ran my long run with my friend Maritza since her and I will be running the Long Beach Marathon together. It was nice to have someone to run with because long runs are painful when you run them alone. 

Sunday: 6.3 Mile Recovery Run @9:34 pace/ I ran the first 4 miles with my other half and the last 2 alone. This is his second week of training for his half marathon in November and he is doing pretty good. This run really made me see the benefit of keeping the pace easy on the long runs. My legs felt great and I could have gone further than 6 miles. It is not often that I feel this way the day after my long run but perhaps it was due to the easy pace I kept on this run.

We also celebrated my Grandma's 87th birthday on Sunday. My grandparents birthdays are two days apart but my grandma is nine years older than my grandpa. We took her out to lunch and we had a really good time. She was happy. She always gets sad for my grandpa on special occasions but today she did pretty good.

Total Miles: 36 which puts me at 60 miles for the month of August. This was also the last week of the Summer Run Challenge which really kept me accountable to my weekly miles.

Next week calls for a 20 mile long run which always make me nervous. I might take a trip out to the actual course and run my long run out in Ventura just to get a feel for it. The course is supposed to be a flat, out and back course but I have heard that you catch a head wind on the way back. I am not sure if this will boost or kill my confidence. Sometimes it is better not to know, right?

Does part of your marathon training include running parts of the actual course?

I Have Decided on a Fall Marathon or Two...

I am still undecided as to whether or not I will run the Ventura full marathon or just the half on my birthday. I am training to run a full marathon so I have committed to running the Long Beach Marathon so all of this training does not go to waste. If I decide to run the Ventura Marathon then it looks like I will still be running Long Beach Marathon as well.

Ventura and Long Beach are about a month apart and I know it is a bit much. I have put some thought into it and I have a plan. I will be running Long Beach with a friend at a much easier pace than my current marathon pace. Her goal is to come in between 4:30-5:00 hours so I think that this pace will be a safe one for me should I decide to run both. If I am not up to running both then I will make the right decision. Injury is not fun and I won't put myself at risk if I am not feeling up to it.

Thoughts on running two marathons a month apart? 

Any tips on how to maintain my training in between the two?

I am not sure how I will train in between the two but I know that I plan to take a week off after Ventura to give my body time to recover.

July Miles and My Workouts for 7/28-8/3

July was a good month. My goal was to run 150 miles and I met my goal!

My legs feel great but I am being faithful about foam rolling and I am always open to skipping a run if my body is telling me to take a break. I don't want to get too focused on hitting a certain amount of mileage for the month but more on being able to make my runs count. August is going to be a big month since I am reaching long runs of 18 miles plus so I need to stay focused and plan carefully around the hot weather. I am also having to take my long runs a little slower than planned but heat is my worst enemy and in order to survive it is what I have to do. I am good with that or else I end up wimping out and cutting my long runs short and I can't do that.

Here is a recap of my week:

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 5.15 Miles @8:42 avg pace/I was supposed to run my tempo run but my son wanted to join me so we made it a family exercise day on the bike trail. My other half started his training for the Las Vegas R&R half marathon this week so we ran two miles together and then I ran three miles alone (8:35, 8:01, 7:47.) My son rode his bike along side us since we ran on the bike trail. It was 88 degrees but with no sun and a nice breeze so I guess I can handle that.

Wednesday: I skipped out on my run and I ended up calling it a date night with my other half. I planned to run after we had dinner but I had a super bad headache and just decided to call it a day. I have to give myself the freedom to skip a run when I feel like I need it or else I get burned out. I also know that when I skip a run, my next run will be a good one.

Thursday: 5 Miles@9:43 avg. pace/I ran in the 91 degree heat and it was pretty rough. I thought I was going to pass out it was so hot!

Friday: Rest Day. I took a vacation day from work and just kind of took it easy knowing that I had an 18 mile run the following day.

Saturday: 18 Miles@8:50 avg./I ran the first half easy and the last half a little faster. These long runs are getting harder and harder with the heat. They are a little frustrating because I feel more tired than I usually do and hitting my goal paces take so much more effort.

Sunday: 5 Mile Recovery Run@9:54 with my other half. It was pretty warm when we left the house at 7:00 am and the humidity level was at 84%. We are definitely not used to this kind of weather! It actually rained over night and I was happy about that since we really needed it.

Total Miles: 33 Miles

It looks like we are going to get a small break from the heat next week. Of course the break comes on a cut back week but I will take it. I am off work on Friday so it looks like I will try to plan my long run on Friday. I must say that 63 degrees never sounded so good!

What do you prefer? Heat or Humidity?
I say neither one..