Running Like a Dog

Hey friends!

As if you didn’t know..

ILR.

Aka, I. Love. Running.

(Warning: skip this if you don’t care about my running, don’t like running, or just don’t want to read a rant about running. I won’t be offended! 🙂 )

This never gets old. And it's SO TRUE for me.

Unfortunately, I can’t run today. Why? Because I’m stuck on a train bound for the snowy depths of NY state. Fml.

That means I have approximately 10 hours of travel to collect my thoughts and sit on my butt.

So, I’ll exercise my mind a little bit and talk about what’s been happening with my running!!

Current Weekly Mileage: 40ish

My body likes this mileage. It is happy with it. I have about two long runs a week, and several shorter ones. I’ve been taking breaks when I needed ’em, like today! But, my body so far hasn’t felt run down at all. So, I’ve been running pretty much six days a week with varying mileage. It’s aweeeesome.

My rest day can be either a “complete” rest day or an “active” rest day, depending on how I’m feeling. An active rest day for me means a little bit o’ weight lifting and some ellipticaling, because if not I’d probably go crazy. Fun fact: I’m probably secretly an Energizer Bunny.

That is one cool bunny!

Today is a complete rest day. I’m sitting on my butt. Alllll day. And I might switch to these at school, because I’ll have more walking to do throughout the days. BUT, for the past month I’ve been at home, doing basically nothing when I’m not running (unless baking and eating count as cardio..?). This allowed my body to get in lotsa rest, so that I felt completely refreshed for every run. And if it ain’t broken, I’m not fixin’ it.

Mileage Breakdown: 20 miles of long run pace, 10 miles pushing it, 5 miles being a speed demon, 5 miles barely moving

I can’t really tell you how many long runs I do in a week, or when I do them. I just do whatever I do, and it’s worked out like this pacing wise. Sometimes, I’ll mentally plan a 7 mile “long run”, but end up doing 2 miles of pushing and 2 miles killing myself, or that dreaded “speed work” stuff. I can even do a long run pace for a while, then get a surge of energy and push myself for a while. I’m just going with the flow!

Because of this, my endurance has increased like craycray, and I’m pushing out faster miles than ever before. Wahoo!

Unfortunately, I’ve been stuck inside because of safety issues on my runs.

Luckily, not this treadmill. I know that I've said I dislike treadmills. I do. I promise. But, I'd rather run on a treadmill than feel unsafe. You win some, you lose some, eh?

I don’t run outside if I don’t feel safe in an area (I don’t live in a bad area, just an extremely rural one without a lot of people out), so within the last week I only got about 3 miles in outside. Do I think this is negatively effecting my training? Not really, because those three miles were faster than I have myself run on the treadmill, and felt easier. Plus, at school I’ll have to do most of my running inside for the next month because of snow, ice, and cold. Hills will be tackled in the spring..

Next Race: No idea.

I have absolutely no idea when I’ll be able to run my next race. I’m just trying to build up a good, healthy base. My goal is to get faster and to increase my endurance as much as possible. Currently, I’m not “in training” for a race, but training my body to be better at running. I know that this year, I want to knock a couple minutes or more off of my 5k time. I have a goal time in my head for a future half or full marathon, but we’ll just have to see about that panning out. When I sign up for one, I’ll go into actually training for that distance. My current goal is just faster and further – seeing where my body can take me, basically. I’m letting it guide my training, not a race.

Current Mantra: Run like a dog.

I wonder if I'd run faster if someone threw a ball for me..? Probs. I do chase after one for sport (rugby woo!). Any volunteers to be the ball thrower at my next race?

I have no idea where I heard this exactly, but I always remember it. Why? Because dogs love running. Have you ever seen a dog look super unhappy while running? Not really. They love it and do it when they want! After they’re done, they sleep. This sounds like a pretty awesome way to run, if you ask me. So, I’m doing it! I’m running to have fun, resting when I want to.

That whole nutrition part..

Will be posted about another day! What I’m truly believing now? To run big, you need to eat big. My body has shown signs of wanting more, and I’m honoring them. I’ll address those signs that I got (which were kinda scary! but pretty harmless as long as I fixed the problem) and more in another post. I want the post I do on how I fuel my running to be perfect, and it isn’t quite there yet. I need to gather my thoughts more.

So.. That’s where I am right now.

Are you training for anything right now? If you are, how’s it going? How are you doing in general?

I love reading about you guys! Not only in your blogs, but in your comments! I read every single comment and love them all! I don’t always reply because I’m bad at it, but trust me that I appreciate them SO MUCH!! Thank you for them, they completely brighten my day!

Which reminds me.. Thanks for all the blog compliments! You guys rock and I’m glad you like it!! 🙂

Chelsea