Flash forward to Christmas. My husband bought me a Garmin.
Yesterday I charged it up and threw it on.
It even comes with a heart rate monitor. The scary face is all mine, though. Also, I know dick about heart rate. I should probably look that up or something.
Originally I was aiming for about three miles. I was waiting for my dad to show up, so I kept running loops in my neighborhood (side note: My "mile loop" is apparently about 0.94 miles, which explains a lot about previous runs). But, every time I jogged by my house my dad was there yet, and I felt pretty good. So I kept going. And then I hit five miles. And that's so close to 6.2 miles, it would be stupid not to keep going.
Boom.
At the tail end of mile two, my shoulder started hurting. This is a problem I used to have a lot while running. I went to a physical therapist for it last year at some point. He thought it was a combination of poor posture and tension.
I have terrible posture. But, tension? Here's the thing. I got a fancy pant massage yesterday. All my tension should have been on the last train to Clarksdale. Anyway, I slowed down my pace to work out whatever my shoulder issue was. And then I'd speed up, and then my shoulder would flare up, and then I'd slow down. But, looking at my chart, there wasn't much of a dramatic change in pace. Until that last awesome, delicious mile.
The best part about the run was, I could have kept going. I would have slowed down a bit, but I could have kept going. Which is good. I don't think I've ran this far since Halloween. It's nice to know I haven't lost everything, distance-wise. And I'm pleased as punch about the time. I spent most of my running career in the safe zone of 10 minute miles or slower (look at my marathon and half marathon PRs, for example). I just didn't push myself at all, because it seemed difficult.
So, I'm looking forward to some pushing.
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Christmas.
We made cookies.
That looked like crime scene photos.
My brother Harv tormented the dog.
There was a spoon balancing contest (everyone lost).
The neighborhood lights were pretty cool.
It's not Christmas morning without Farm John's sausages and my mom's apricot rolls. I found myself at Ralph's on Christmas morning, buying 8 packages of sausage. Totally worth it.
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My brother bought his kids a giant trampoline. I enjoyed it.
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It was a great holiday. I love spending time with all my brothers, all at once. I wish we all lived closer so it could happen more often.
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12/24/11: Rorschach's journal. December 24th, 2011: The candles are lit again. Fifth time this week. Must investigate further. Hurm.
12/25/11: I'm not left candled either.
12/26/11: This town deserves a better class of candle. And I'm gonna give it to 'em.
When my sister was 9 or 10, someone "double jumped" her on the trampoline and she came down wrong on her knee. OVEREXTENDED THE TENDON... when she tried to stand up on it, it buckled BACKWARD. We are not allowed on trampolines anymore.
ReplyDeleteLove my Garmin! Now I jog in circles so I finish my runs on an even mile. The trampoline pics are awesome! My parents would never let my brother and I have a trampoline and I hated them for that...until I was 17 and I did a back handspring on a trampoline. Hyper-extended my elbow and landed on my head. It explains a lot.
ReplyDeleteSince I've drunk a lot of the Heart Rate training koolaid, here's a quick n dirty rundown:
ReplyDeleteTo find your threshold number, hop on your bike and warm up for 20 minutes. Seriously, 20 minutes. You should not be out of breath at all at this point and should just be warming up. Your heartrate should be in the 70-75% range (as calculated, which will likely be wrong for now...should be 0.75*(226-age). After that, start adding on gears or cadence or whatever, to bring your heart rate up 5 beats at a time. Use breathing to keep it under control. Stay hydrated. Stay at each stage for 2-5 minutes. When you hit the point where your breathing audibly changes (it helps to have someone else track that, but you can do it on your own too), make a note of your heartrate. That's your threshold, and is about 85% of your MHR. Calculate your MHR and corresponding 70, 75, 92 %s from there.
You should be training in the 70-75% zone (absolute max 80%) 3-4 times a week, if you're working out 6 times a week. 80-85% 1-2 times a week and 85-92 (interval training) once a week. It's how the pros do it, I'm told.
I love the trampoline shot! Catch you all catchin' air!
ReplyDeleteGood job to the husband on the watch! Can't go wrong with that and your run was pretty speedy!! Those kind are always welcomed :)
What a great run! I wish I could get pass the 10 min miles! Maybe in the coming year I will push it.
ReplyDeleteYou look AWESOME Rose. Your arms!!! Your abs! Your butt..as always :P but seriously, nice upper-arm definition! And upper back!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys had so much fun!!! Your family always seems like a blast.
Looks like you had a great holiday. I have horrible posture too which makes my shoulders all achey.
ReplyDeleteHave fun with your Garmin.
Awesome run! I've lived a long time in the comfortable 10:00 minute zone, afraid to see what I could really do if I moved out of "comfortable." I tried to push myself during a recent 5k, just trying to be brave, and came away with a 2 minute PR. Now there is no going back. Keep pushing, it is so worth it!
ReplyDeleteHot damn! Seriously impressive first run with the Garmin.
ReplyDeleteLoving that you are now a geeky Garmin stats chick too :-) .... mine doesn't have a HRM because when I do use on it mostly tells me I should be dead HAHAHA-DE-HAAAA
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new garmin and good job on your run!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great holiday was had by all! Love the crime scene cookies! :)
ReplyDeleteI got a Garmin too. It should get here tomorrow. So very excited.
ReplyDeleteIf that's not pushing, you're going to kick some major ass when you DO push.
I got to be with all of my brothers for Christmas, too, and it was awesome. :) No trampoline, but a trail ride and drunken Rock Band.
Sweet a Garmin!! I love Garmin!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a GREAT Christmas.
I want a trampoline :) although I know I would end up killing myself on it. Probably not a good idea for someone who is injury prone like me.
Wow, that is a really flat run. Use the HR monitor to determine your zones based on percieved effort. Some runs should feel easy, and you can confirm that if your heart rate doesn't get too high. If you push the heart rate really high, then you are either running faster or longer than your body wants to go. Staying high is fun when you are trying to pr at a race, but not always cool for regular training.
ReplyDeleteYea baby!
I haven't used my heart rate monitor yet. It scares me.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited that you got a Garmin.
But really ... now I want a gigantic trampoline in my backyard.
Holy shit, your brother looks like a viking. I have a Garmin 405, and I have never ever used my heart rate monitor. Was is uncomfortable at all?
ReplyDelete