Kim and Lauren - Post #7

Kim and Lauren are a mother/daughter team, training to run the Disneyland Half Marathon in September of 2012. Kim, the the 50-something mom is vegan, and is training at the literally breathtaking altitude of 7,000 feet in Taos, NM. She has never been any kind of athlete before. Lauren, the 20-something daughter, is mostly vegetarian, and is doing her training in Seattle, WA. Running isn't new to her, but distance running is. This weekly blog, written by both of them, documents the journey, and hopefully, will inspire a few others to follow a dream, do something that's harder than they ever imagined they'd do on purpose, and enjoy the entire journey. Find all the entries by entering "Kim and Lauren" in the "search this blog" box to the left.

Kim:

Last Friday I "ran" 9 miles, and felt amazingly good afterwards. My perceived problem at the moment though, is that I'm still doing a lot more walking than running. So I've switched gears this week, and am putting more focus on building up the running, and less on the distance. For now. I got the ChiRunning book and DVD, and it's helping. I think I have the basics of the form and theory behind it down, but I still just can't run very far without getting winded. Little by little. I know. But I am a very impatient grasshopper.

Today I "ran" 4.5 miles, running more than usual with the help of an interval timer, and then went to a water aerobics class with my friend. I thought it might be a bad idea, but it actually felt really good. Even though it was another strenuous workout, the water was soothing, my running muscles got a good stretch, and the hot "therapy pool" afterwards was heaven. Have I mentioned how much I miss the hot tub we used to have in our yard? I will continue to mention it. Get used to it.

Next week we're going to Seattle, for vegan cooking school, and I'll be able to run with Lauren for the first time since we started all this. I want to be able to keep up with her at least a little bit. And I know she's going to be a great help to me, even though she'll also run rings around me. I'm trying to lose weight, to make running easier, and it seems like running should help me lose weight. Things are not always as they seem. This is the first time in my life I've wanted to lose weight so I could exercise, rather than the other way around. It's slow going though - only about 6 pounds in 6 weeks. As hard as I'm working, and as well as I'm eating, I think it should be more! Slow and steady, blah, blah, blah... And yes, I know that muscle weighs more than fat. It's not particularly comforting information. I was a little bit encouraged the other day though, when a friend I hadn't seen in a while asked me what I was doing to look so good. Well, well... blush, blush... maybe I'm making some progress after all.

Lauren:

Sometimes when I run, I feel like a wounded cat.

After a week-long hiatus I jumped back into my training yesterday. After completing the 5k I needed a break, had to get my life back in order. Let me tell you, never will I ever go a week without training again… oh wait, I’ve said that before haven’t I?

This time I have to say wasn’t as bad as the last time I went a week without running. My roommate Suzie and I got up early for a light jog before work. I love doing my workouts in the morning, the world is still and fresh, it feels clean and new. I love the way Greenlake looks before the sun comes up, glistening and sparkly. It makes the getting up 45 minutes early part almost enjoyable.

We did a total of 2.4 miles at a moderate pace. Right at the beginning I could tell my muscles had some remembering to do. I felt floppy and loose. My posture was all wrong, my knees were trying to turn in, my ankles were sore and my abs were killing me. I seriously looked like a wounded cat; clumsily trying to keep going even though it was awkwardly painful. I was making running look hard and uncomfortable and that’s not really my goal here.

When I finished the workout I knew there were some things I needed to work on. My mother has been reading books and training incredibly hard. Most of my running friends have training plans and schedules for their workouts. I on the other hand don’t have and haven’t really done any of that, my assumption was that adding a little more distance each day would do the trick… not so much. At first I thought running was all about stamina in the lungs, I have asthma so I figured it would be difficult, but doable. I have found I can breathe just fine, it’s my muscles that start giving up on me.

After doing a little research and talking to some people I learned that I need to be building strength with weight training and core exercises along with increasing my distance each week. The stronger my core and legs are the longer I can hold myself up, the longer I can hold myself up the easier it will be to run a longer distance. I refuse to be one of those people that makes running look hard, it may not be easy for everyone, butI don’t particularly enjoy looking like a wounded cat.