One Mile Madness

Sometimes I'm a little confused about how tough a mile can feel.  I get that my miles have been outside and there are slight inclines throughout my neighborhood, but really?  I mean I'm running for 10 minutes.  It shouldn't feel so crappy.  I've been going through the reasons (it's morning and I'm still sleepy and not quite loosened up, the only thing I've had to drink is coffee, etc, etc) but nothing really seems to be a valid reason.  Seven miles should not feel easier than one mile, period.  Maybe it's my mentality or maybe I'm just bored doing basically the same run on my mile days.  It just seems kind of silly to drive out to the trail to do a mile run.  Who knows.  Maybe one day I will come up with the reason.

On the plus side, I am coming close to a milestone in my running for the year.  By the end of June I will have run over 80 miles.  I get that a lot of runners run about that in a week.  I have no idea how.  I love to run (most of the time) but I also love a lot of other aspects of my life.  At this point, I have run about 50 hours this month.  I'm kind of addicted to looking at the graphs on the Nike website.

As you can see, April and May were not so hot.  

Granted, the runners who are doing high mileage are not nearly as slow as I am, but whoa that's a big chunk of time!  I guess you prioritize and make time for things you care about.  Maybe one day I'll get this guy a nanny (or a baby jogger...hehe kidding) and I, too, will join the high mile crowd.

On my awesome ten minute run today, I debated whether or not my training plan is going to be effective.  I guess at this point I am a month in and I know my fitness level is improving, but I have also been doing my miles in between.  Is running 3 days a week really going to be the best plan?  Yes, when I get back to work it will be nice to only HAVE to do 3 days, but over the summer I have more time to dedicate to getting in shape.  All the runners I read about got better by....are you ready for this.....running.  I suppose if I keep doing my strength moves (abs, arms, butt) and do some other cross training in the mean time I will be ok.  Lately cross training has been the dance game for Wii.  I'm practicing my Party Rock skills for my reunion with my sister on the 4th of July.  She better watch out.  I probably shouldn't change a plan until I see how it works on race day I suppose.  I'm just a little worried about the looming high mile runs and "speed work" coming up in the near future.

Because I have had a lot of unexpected expenses (grown up life can be so fun sometimes) I have been on a saving money kick and trying to use what I have and stick to buying essentials for my fridge (I'm pretty sure wine counts..).  On that note, I am off to attempt to make my own granola!  Keep your fingers crossed that it turns out as well as I hope it will.  I have to improvise a little bit, but I think it will turn out ok...