Monday, September 26, 2011

Run #7.2 - I Think I Love J.G.

Holy cow - it is like a ray of light is shining down on me from above. Angels are singing. I am renewed and remembering those feelings of awesomeness when hitting new milestones with my running! 

After a summer of struggling with IT band troubles, Meniere's Disease and heat I was in need of something new. Something fresh to help me get that spark back. Something to help me feel like I really AM a runner. Something to help me start preparing for 3 races in 3 days (5K, half marathon, marathon relay) in Walt Disney World. I often find myself staring at the RunDisney website and finally decided that if Jeff Galloway keeps telling me to try his method, and I keep staring at him at expos and races, well, why the heck would I not give his method a try? **I was mostly hesitant in the past because I've been behind a Galloway runner before at the Princess and she really annoyed me. But then I thought about it and what was annoying to me was her husband running by her with a stopwatch telling her what to do.

My plan was to go 8 miles. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to program more than 20 lines of a workout into my Garmin, so I was only able to get in 50 minutes, which gave me 5 miles. *Lucy hooked me up with Chunky Girl's blog post about setting up intervals for a longer period of time, so I'm going to do that tonight!* I read over things from the RunDisney website and watched some of his videos before deciding to try a 4/1 ratio....  running 4 minutes, walking 1. 

This is here just because.
It was around 8:15pm when I set out with my programmed Garmin and began running (in shorts!! WHAT?? I was testing out part of my Halloween race costume). The time flew by! The miles really flew by! I had no idea what to expect and if I would even like it. I mean would I really be faster if I am forcing myself to walk after just 4 minutes of running? Well .... to cut to the chase, YES!  I was able to go 5 miles in 52 minutes. I never stopped moving. I never wanted to stop moving. My legs felt the best they having during a run in I don't know how long! I really did have the remaining 3 miles in me, but it was pretty late anyway, and I didn't want to guess and mess up the ratio. I'm pretty anal and if I have a plan I need to stick to it. I didn't beat myself up over the 5 though. For my experimental run I was thrilled with how it went! Basically I've never run 5 miles that fast. If my times ever looked that fast it wasn't taking into account moments where I might have hit pause and stopped to breathe, stretch or drink. This was just 5 pure miles! I didn't even bring water along this time, and all I fueled with was a sinfully delicious (mini) peanut butter cookie from Minnie's Bakery (you can find these in Disney parks!).

I feel this huge sense of relief going into the Portland Half Marathon in 2 weeks. After such a fun time in Disneyland I was worried about running 13 miles alone without characters to get pictures with. But now that I will have my Garmin beeping at me (just turn up your iPod and ignore me, okay?) I think I feel a successful race in  my future! I predict a much better performance than the last 3 half marathons, and if not, I'm finally accepting that I am slow and unsteady and I'm okay with it! Fun is the name of the game from now on, and my goal that I've written on my fridge is just one word .... CALM. I just want to keep my head calm during the race.

In conclusion, I think I love Jeff Galloway .... but not in the way I love Steve Prefontaine. I mean come on now, you know nobody would ever get between me and Pre!


14 comments:

  1. Girlfriend, where have you been?! This is the only way I've gotten through any of my races.
    I originally started at a 3-1, but dropped back to a 2-1 b/c it was faster. Now I'm working my way up to a 9-1- maybe.

    So glad you found this magical method out before the Disneyworld extravaganza because that's the only way I rock it! haha.

    I have a separate Gymboss that beeps at me and I've been wanting to know how to do it with my Garmin- question: Can you still see your main screen (i.e. your pace, time, distance) while it's in interval mode? That's the only thing I'm concerned about.

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  2. Good for you. I love it when people find a method that works, really works for them. Can't wait to see your costume at the end of October!

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  3. I am so relieved you do this, too!!

    Okay - so I had to experiment in my first 2 minutes because I wanted to see my pace and distance. I mean what good is an experiment if you can't compare it to a base reading? So I learned that yes, you CAN see your pace, time, distance. Then at every interval switch it beeps 5 times as a warning before you change. And then it has a little box on your screen saying "walk 1 minute" -- or whatever you have it programmed to tell you. I did all of this on my computer with the program that comes up when you sync your Garmin. And then I sent it to the Garmin and wallah!

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  4. Kim - my costume ended up better than expected! I mean I am going in all regular running clothes .... Nike clothes, Running Skirts socks and adidas on my feet. The only thing I'm adding are accessories really. I'm optimistic about running comfortably!

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  5. ya for finding something that works for you. I secretly hate when runners set a goal of "as long as i don't walk"- there is NOTHING wrong with walking if your body needs it. So often we think of it as failure and instead of giving our body a break, we push through it and our time gets slooower and sloooooower- walking allows rejuvenation so yay for doing it!


    Walk on!

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  6. I so want to try the run walk. Thanks to you now I am going to. You so read my mind!

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  7. You are going to be awesome. I have no doubts.

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  8. Yay!!! I'm so, so glad you've got your mojo back : )

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  9. yay yay yay!!! I do a 4-1 or sometimes, if I'm feeling crafty, 4:30/:30, for all of my long runs, and I haven't had a bad long run in forever.

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  10. Yay!! Good for you!! Once I'm back and running I really want to find a good run/walk interval.

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  11. I walk in every race. Even my PR half! WALK WALK WALK! The only time I stopped walking is last week during my 16 miler. After 14 miles, it hurts more to walk than run.

    Girl, WALK! I'm glad you found something that makes you feel good and strong! Excited for your next half!

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  12. This is my first race where I'm following Galloway's method and a) not injured (knock on wood) and b) i'm not hating it all.

    i too have a gymboss that i love...i set it with my intervals and just go. i run 5x1's.

    best of luck!

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  13. Ok, I have had my Garmin for over a year and totally did not know I could program it to do this. I am going to try this tonight. Will let you know how it goes. Glad you like the JG method. I am much faster when I run this way and stick to it. Sometimes I think I will just keep running because I feel good and skip the walk but my time suffers in the end.

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  14. keep me posted on this! I've met JG and she is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. But I've been too chicken to take the jump and actually Galloway a race. But I'm starting to realize that with surgery this summer and these weird little injuries that keep popping up, that it might have to happen.

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Thanks for reading my little blog, your comments rock my compression socks!! ºoº