Here are some random thoughts and pictures. Likely in no rational or logical order.
Lets start with dog pictures because you know they are cuter than I am.
This is Bean. My dogs need haircuts badly. This is why it can be difficult to stretch or do 30DS with dogs. They think if I'm sitting on the floor than I must want to play. I can't tell you how many times they have dive bombed me from the ottoman to my belly as I got down to do crunches. They are tiny, but it still hurts! They are both silly and insane and I love them a ridiculous amount.
So yesterday was beautiful, so I decided to haul it around outside. I'm really kind of fascinated and confused as to why running outside is SO MUCH HARDER than the treadmill. I am not a good runner. But, I can't stand to walk on the tm so I try to run on it. I'm getting better at running on the tm and can actually run for a decent amount of time continuously (for me, that is. I'm sure others would laugh b/c it isn't good at all!) Outside, however, I feel immediately like I'm dying. My form feels spazzy, my legs barely work, my knees hurt, and I'm gasping for breath. I need a new word for outside running. At first I thought of slogging-sloooow jogging. But that doesn't really convey how slow I'm going or how difficult it appears to others or how lethargic and slothful I feel. So then I came up with slothing. But that just sounds like me slothing around the house (i.e. the other 23 hrs of the day.) Finally I decided on slogothing. Which doesn't seem as awesome when written. It makes sense when you are talking to yourself in your head while trudging around. Slow+jog+sloth+ing. Slogothing. (slogathing? slogithing? I don't know.)
But it was beautiful and there were many puppies in the park. About a mile from me there is a little community park with a soccer field and a track. It is pretty rundown and sketchy. But, it is close to a main street and there are usually people around during the day. I live in a...transitional neighborhood, let's say. I don't like to walk around by myself. Two women were attacked while running alone over the hill from me in the safest, and by far the richest area of the town. Both were running alone early in the morning and were attacked by the same person. I won't go into the specifics, but they are pretty horrifying. So I try to stay around other people, even though I'm embarrassed to have people see me slogothing. Plus, it is paved, not in danger from traffic (a local runner was struck and killed a few weeks ago while training for our marathon), and relatively flat. Of course, that means it is kind of a boring little run.
I used my new Runkeeper app from Android and it worked well! Told me how far and how fast I'd gone even with me just going in a circle. Yay for free stuff!
(I should cut the bench out. I was done for the day! No sitting for me!)
AND THEN I CAME HOME AND DID 30 DAY EVIL. AM SO HARD CORE AND FIT. BE IMPRESSED PEOPLE. IT SUCKED, I CAN'T EVEN PRETEND.
I have more stories to tell, but I've been typing forever and this thing is kind of ridiculously long. I will be impressed if anyone reads the whole thing.
So help a girl out! How can I get better at outside running? Just practice and pushing myself? C25K? work on the treadmill hard and hope it translates to outside? I am not a natural runner (obviously) so I will take any advice!
3 comments:
I use runkeeper, too!
I started running outside and shifted into adding treadmill work, so I don't really hav any suggestions, but just keep plugging. Focus on stuff outside that you don't have on your treadmill to pass the time. I run in neighborhoods usually, so I try to see in other peoples' houses, and critique their landscaping (mentally).
Slogothing in my mind is slogo-thing. Which sounds like a weird marketing device. I like slogging better.
I was going to ask about speed. A lot of people run faster outside, without realising it. But if you have and app for that(!) then perhaps you know you're sticking to roughly the same pace as the treddie? The other thing is that running on a 0% incline on the treadmill is actually equivalent to a slight downhill gradient outside, due to the roll of the belt. So try setting it to 1-2% gradient next time (if you don't already). Of course that'll have the unhappy consequence of making treadmill running just as hard as outdoor running, rather than the outdoor running easier, but at least it'd explain the disparity!
Great pics of you and the dogs. Though nasty story about the women being attacked. It's good to be reminded to not take our personal safety for granted..
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