First Team Training!

Wow! What a day!
We were up at the crack of dawn to head over to Niskayuna to the bike path. It was chilly, so the layers went on (and never came off). My fiance came with me for support, and we pulled into the parking lot just as the runners starting gathering. WHAT A GREAT CROWD! There were about 50 people there, of all abilities, shapes, sizes, ages, etc. I met my mentor Gabi - she's great! Full of energy and encouragement and moxie! Not only were my Freihofer teammates there, but other Teams in Training (San Diego Marathon, Lake Placid Half Marathon). I was surprised to see a friend of mine from work there (she's training for Lake Placid), so we hugged and she filled me in on how things worked with the team training. We had a little pep talk from Dan, our running coach and Joanne, the walking coach, and then were were off!!

The Freihofers only had to run 2 miles today, but my back* has been bothering me, so my fiance and I walked it. The start of the course was lined with pictures of our honored patients - people who are currently undergoing treatment. It puts everything in perspective for you. Instead of feeling cranky from lack of sleep, chilly, and sore from the week of training, I actually felt honored that what I was doing was going to help these people.

And what a lovely place to train! The bike path follows the Mohawk River, and there's a veritable aviary that live along it's shores, In addition to plump robins, we saw a blue heron, and lots and lots of geese. We kept up a brisk 3.8 -4.0 pace, and got done in about an hour.

The energy of the team was amazing. The enthusiasm was infectious, and the cheer and support was amazing. Passing runners would shout words of encouragement. Smiles were everywhere. I could become addicted to this. It's pretty amazing what a bunch of people with a compassionate outlook and a common goal can do!

Can't wait til next week!

* I have two arthritic vertebrae in my lumbar spine that occasionally give me trouble. It's nothing major, and totally to be expected, seeing as how I've startled them by embarking upon a training regimen. They'll settle down in a day or two. Meanwhile, no sense in making them angry enough to make it so I can't train - hence the walking.

Done and dusted

It's Friday night. I'm home from a long day at work, a long service, and dinner at a local sushi restaurant. 4:30am seems like eons ago, but that's when I got up. I headed over to the Y at 5am, passing an early morning jogger whom I'm pretty sure I hallucinated in my befuddled, half awake state - he was bedecked in strobe lights on his ankles, wrist and head. I understand the need to be seen in the pitch dark, and I applaud that man's aplomb in making his work-out into a moving disco floor show!

My training run this morning seems so long ago, I barely remember the details, but I have a vague recollection of being conscious and moving. My stats stayed the same from Wednesday - I felt like I was running through molasses!

I talked to my race mentor for the race on the phone today! Gabi is wonderfully supportive and I'm excited to meet her and work with the team tomorrow morning at the ungodly hour of 7am! Gabi told her she'd be the loud one, hugging everyone. I told her I'd be the bleary-eyed, stumbling zombie!

Till tomorrow!

Stats
Total time: 30:00
mileage: 2.16 miles

(it felt longer than 30 minutes) (early mornings are evil)

Rest Day

It's Thursday, so that means no training run. I woke up this morning with pleasantly sore quads. Nothing bad - just the kind of ache that tells you you've been working and waking up the muscles. I was sort of proud of the stiffness. I got an hour long walk (about 4 miles) in before I had to report to church for Holy Thursday services. I love that little pinging in the muscles that you get after you've walked or ran a good distance. It also loosened up the tightness in the quads.

Tomorrow is a pretty big day. Sue Krasher, one of my heroes for whom I am running this race, has her first chemotherapy tomorrow. Sue was diagnosed 6 weeks ago, and her prognosis is good, but she has to undergo six cycles to treat her lymphoma - one treatment, every three weeks. She'll finish in July. She cut her hair recently to a short pixie cut that looks extremely fetching. I am really awed by how gracefully she is handling everything. She's a wonderful, old soul, and you can always count on her for a wise word, and funny joke. She has a daughter and son and a wonderful support network.

Tomorrow I need to get up early to get my training run in - there's just no time in the evening. As I mentioned before, it would be a serious understatement to say that I'm not a morning person, but you know what? The inconvenience of having to get up early to exercise pales in comparison to what Sue has to do tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to kicking tomorrow morning's butt, for Sue.

Training run #2 - in the bag

Rather than narrate my second training run/walk, how about I just post snippets from my interior monologue as the run unfolded?

[scans the cardio room for a treadmill that won't break, climbs on]
"this will be easy.....5 minute brisk warm up, run/walk intervals for 20 minutes - I did this Monday, no problem....[5 minute walk ends, 1.5min jog starts]..ow....ow...shoulda worn the other jogging bra....ow.....ow...OW......OW.....OW!!!!! please oh please oh please stop hurting...ow....ow...ow...are my bat wing arms creating aerodynamic drag?....ow...ow...ow....."

And so on.

This was the polar opposite of Monday's run. The first 10 minutes were hard! My finger hovered over the "speed down" button like a nervous NORAD flunky waiting for the right launch code! But I kept to the program and kept going. I didn't fudge the times and didn't substitute intervals. And funnily enough, as the run progessed, I felt that the running intervals were more comfortable than the walking! That's never happened before! I'm looking forward to next week when the running times increase and walking decreases.

Stats:
total time: 30:00
mileage: 2.16 miles.

My distance is creeping forward! Yay!

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This is a shot of the vending machine at the Y. I bask in the irony.

Training music

Hello! Today is a rest day, but that doesn't mean I'm not planning ahead for the week. This is Holy Week, and I'm a musician, so it means that all of my evenings, starting Thursday and ending Sunday, will be spent in church.

So. Friday. In order to get the training run in, I have to get up at 5am.


I'm going to make sure that I am well fortified with coffee and sugar before I stumble into TNT Training Saturday morning at 7am. It's only fair to my teammates.

My friend Emily (hi Emily!) asked a question on yesterday's blog about training music. If I'm running on the treadmill at the Y, I'll usually plug my headphones into the TV, but if I'm out running around the neighborhood, I have a few playlists set up on my iPod, and I think I'll share a particularly heinous one with you. I call it the "Bleeding Ears Workout" playlist. Anyone who lived through the 80's will be cringing at this one;

Deirdre's Bleeding Ears Playlist
Stretch/Warm up:
The Word Girl - Scritti Pollitti
Something About You - Level 42
Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley

Burn:
Don't Go - Yaz
Cult of Personality - Living Colour
The Glamorous Life - Sheila E (know what this song needs? Less cowbell)
In A Big Country - Big Country
Wings of a Dove (Celebratory Song) - Madness
Do Your Thing - Basement Jaxx (yeah, I know they're not 80's, but this song keeps me moving)

Drum Machine Zone:
Take On Me - a-ha
Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
You Spin Me Right Round - Dead or Alive
Keep Feeling Fascination - Human League
99 Red Balloons - Nena
There Must Be An Angel - Eurythmics

Cool Down:
Destination Unknown - Missing Persons
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Genius of Love - Tom Tom Club
Life in a Northern Town - Dream Academy

Seriously. Can you think of a worse collection of songs than this? I think this playlist makes me run faster - if only to escape it!

Here's a little something something for you Rick Astley fans out there:

Day One! Baby Steps

Today is the first day of training!

I haven't actually done anything yet, but I'm about to head out to the Y and hop on a treadmill to do my walking/jogging intervals. Even though it's just the first day, I feel really pumped up and excited. A lot of it has to do with the goody bag that the folks at LLS sent - it contained my race day shirt, a water bottle, pens, stickers, and best of all, 2 bracelets. One is a purple bracelet, similar to the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" yellow bracelets. It says "Train - Endure- Achieve - Matter". That's going to be my mantra for the next two months. I like it so much I even made it the title of this blog! I will train and endure to achieve a fundraising goal that will matter, and make a difference, to a person with leukemia or lymphoma. The LLS also sent a hospital type bracelet on which I can write down the names of my heroes.

These are the best gifts of all. If I feel tired and want a break, or feel like I don't want to drag myself out of bed to train, I am reminded by these bracelets that leukemia and lymphoma sufferers don't get a break from their disease. It's a great motivator.

I'll update when I get back!
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Update: 9:46pm

Good news!! I haven't broken any more machines at the Y! Hooray! I think the staff are a little wary of me - in the past year I have broken the chain on a rowing machine, and caused the wheel casing of an elliptical machine to fly off mid work-out.

I'm an elliptical machine rat. I love the aerobic workout - sans damage and pounding to my knees and hips. So, it was with a little trepidation that I climbed onto the treadmill for today's training run/walk. When I saw what the training program had in store for me (5 min brisk walk warm up, alternating 1.5 min jogs and 2 min walks for a total of 20 minutes) I was tempted to scoff. Easy peasy, right?

Sort of.

I'd say the first 10 minutes were fine. Then my stride got a little wooden. I found myself glancing down at the stopwatch a little too much. Counting seconds until I could walk again. Muttering expletives at my whiny back and knees. The middle 5 minutes were a fight. The last 4 minutes felt better, only because I knew it would be over soon!

Stats:
total time: 30:00
mileage: 2.1 miles.

Ouch. But it's only the first day!

Wha? Huh? You're not a runner! (Are you?)

Hi!
And welcome to my training blog for the Freihofer's 5K Run for Women!

It seems odd that me, the most reluctant of athletes, would be training for a 5K run, but here I am, not only doing it but blogging about it too! I actually ran the Freihofer race last year, just to see if I could do it. I use the term "ran" loosely - paraplegic turtles could have run it faster than me! But I did finish, and that was a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

This year, I decided to do something more. Shortly after I registered for this year's race, I received an email from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, asking me if I would run the race to raise money for leukemia and lymphoma research. It was an easy answer - YES! Too many friends and family have been affected by this disease.

I attended an informational meeting and the wonderful people at the LLS described the "Team In Training" concept, whereby they provide you with coaches, mentors, and training programs. All you have to do is raise money. The best benefit, though, is knowing you are part of a team, training with a common goal in mind, with a common purpose. The camaraderie is invigorating and really motivating!

I chose to run this race in memory of Doug Moak, a dear friend of mine, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2000, and passed away in October of 2005. My father, Robert Keniston, is also being remembered in this race. He passed away in July of 2007 of esophageal cancer. While that's not leukemia or lymphoma, I figure all cancer research funding benefits the entire scientific community, and advances the treatment of all, so I am running in his memory as well.

I am also running in honor of my co-worker, Sue Krasher, who was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and will be starting treatment soon.

So what's this blog for? I'm going to track my progress as I train. I'm following a Couch to 5K training plan. The little "Training" sidebar on the right will tell you what's on tap for the week. I'll be adding more content to the right sidebar as we go along - some related to training, some not. All training and no play makes Deirdre a dull girl!

This blog is also here to keep me honest - if I have to account for my training every day, I'll be less likely to skip a day, or lose focus.

If you can donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, you have my eternal thanks. A link to my fundraising page is on the right. If you can only offer support and encouragement, that's equally valuable, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks so much!