Galloway Season Starts Again!

Me, George, Jeff Galloway, Margaret

It's been a busy weekend for the start of the new Raleigh Galloway season here in the Triangle. Friday night, pace group leaders and their significant others were invited to the program director's home for a meet-and-greet with Jeff Galloway. This is the second year I've gotten to attend this event with George, who's a pace group leader. It's a lot of fun to visit with the leaders, and to re-meet Jeff Galloway. He is very personable, knowledgeable and encouraging. The picture on the left is from the Friday night gathering. Jeff Galloway is the man in the cap.

The Raleigh Galloway Program Annual Kick-Off was yesterday morning at the North Carolina Museum of Art. George and I both volunteered, so we were there at 7:30 AM! It was fun to see the large crowd (350+), including a number of people I know in the running community. Afterward, George and I participated in the 3-hour running school that Jeff Galloway ran at a nearby wellness facility. It was my third year doing the running school, and I enjoyed it a lot. It's been a little different each year, depending on who's there, mostly. Galloway changed the format a little bit this year, too.

After leaving home at 7:00 AM, we got home around 4:00 PM, after a day full of talking about running, but without actually running at all! It was a fun day, though!

I had planning on doing a 7-miler this weekend, but all I could muster was a 1.5 mile walk at Umstead State Park this morning. I was feeling pretty tired, and my right ankle's tendonitis is fussy from all the standing this weekend. Otherwise, it was a nice, but hilly walk.

Umstead Walk

Yesterday I started with some of my Raleigh Galloway friends at the Old Reedy Creek Rd. entrance to Umstead State Park. I've never been to that area of the park before, so I had a very enjoyable walk. (The only downside was the lack of bathrooms at the start!) Once I got past the gravel road leading up to the gate, the trail was packed dirt. The flowering trees are starting to blossom, and there was a good bit of foot and bike traffic, but it wasn't overly crowded. I hear that the airport overlook is off of this trail, but I didn't make it quite far enough down. Check out this webpage about this end of Umstead and the airport overlook.

I ended up going 3.26 miles in 1:09:01 with no toe pain.

Mile 1) 21:28
Mile 2) 21:09
Mile 3) 21:00 (the Garmin called this mile 20:60!)

Afterward, I met up with the rest of the group (they ran longer) at Panera for lunch. After lunch, George and I grabbed our bathing suits and went to the Gold's Gym at North Hills, where they have a saltwater swimming pool AND a saltwater hot tub! Ahhhh!

New Year, New Plan

Umstead Entrance on Hwy 70

I had a great walk this morning in one of the state parks in our area, William B. Umstead State Park, a place the locals call "Umstead" for short. I was a gal on a mission, with a new training plan in hand, but didn't expect to find myself hiking in a state park this morning. I was on my way to walk on the Raleigh Greenway system, and was passing by Umstead on the way when I remembered that I had my camera and decided to pull into the park and see if there was still any snow around for some shots. I found myself going further and further into Umstead, then I decided to park and walk around for just a few more pictures. Then I decided to turn on my Garmin Forerunner 205 and get some of my mileage out of the way while I was there taking pictures. Oops! 3.17 miles later, I had my mileage done for the day, and nearly 100 pictures in my digital camera! While I'm including three of my favorite shots in this post, the rest of my Umstead pictures are here.

Sycamore Trail

I had forgotten how pretty winter can be in the woods of North Carolina. It's a beauty that didn't really come through in the pictures like I'd hoped, and while most of the snow had melted, the scenery and atmosphere still reminded me of Robert Frost's poetry (though I can hardly compare our snow to New England's!). One of  my most delightful finds this morning was a small, well-kept cemetery on the edge (I think!) of the park. Since I'm a taphophile, I was so glad I had my camera with me, and stopped my Garmin to slow down and take some pictures there. My photos of the cemetery are here.

Wild Ferns Along the Sycamore Trail

Oh, I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I had a new training plan! Earlier in the Christmas break, I checked out Hal Higdon's website when I googled "half marathon walk plan," and discovered that the website had just the sort of plan I was looking for, something with structure that I could tweak. His half marathon walk program is twelve weeks long, and provides for long walks of varying intensity and mileage on the weekend, and five other days of walking (by minutes rather than miles) during the week. While I'm still waiting on my orthotics casting appointment, I'm going to do more crosstraining than walking during the week, mostly saving the walking for the weekend. Also, Higdon's plan doesn't include any speedwork, which I plan to do at least once a week (probably on the stationary bike, at least for now). I really miss working with a running coach, but it feels great to have a plan and to be able to tweak it for my needs and fitness level.

So, according to Higdon's half marathon walking plan, I had 3 easy miles on tap for this weekend, and thanks to my walk with the camera on the Sycamore Trail of Umstead Park, I covered 3.17 miles in 90 minutes, covering 3.644 feet of ascent (according to the Garmin), which is a lot more than I'm used to! Even though my average pace per mile was 28:23 min, I know I can normally go faster without my camera. This was the longest distance I've covered on foot since the Outer Banks Half Marathon, so it was a good start, I think. My right foot is a little sore around the toes this evening, but not as bad as I expected. I've been icing the area with a frozen water bottle.

In other news, I still need to find the right ticket for weight management, as I am up 1.4 pounds from January 1, 2010! There, I admitted it. Wrong direction! Stay tuned!

Tackling the Hills of Umstead State Park

This morning's run was my first intentional mid-week hill workout, and it was an interesting one! I returned to Umstead State Park today, and instead of running the paved area this morning, I decided to shoot for the trails this morning. I missed the turnoff for the trails, but got a really good workout on the dirt and gravel roads instead.

I kept Tuesday's setting on the Gymboss pace timer to signal 2 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. There were times when I was tempting to keep running after 2 minutes, but since this was my first mid-week hill workout, I decided to see how this worked out.

The temperature outside seemed a little bit cooler than earlier in the week. It was still plenty hot, but just a tad more pleasant. Of course, the area where I was running had plenty of trees, so I'm sure that helped. Umstead is such a pretty place to run! I saw a deer in the woods today--nice! There were a few other runners and bikers out this morning, and I enjoyed the company.

I tried out my new iPod armband this morning, and it worked pretty well! It was nice to have my hands free from carrying things. The only downside of my morning run was that once, while I was fiddling with the iPod on my upper arm, I tripped and fell! Ouch! My left knee got pretty scraped up, but otherwise I was okay. A park ranger happened to come into view just after I fell, so he stopped to check on me just as I got up. I was sooo close that I wanted to make it to my car, so I assured him I was fine. By the time I got back to my car (continuing my run/walk ratio), the blood had streamed all the way down to my sock! Charming. Thankfully, I had a clean towel in my trunk, so I was able to clean up a bit. I cleaned up the wound after I got home, and my knee doesn't seem to be too much worse for the wear, other than the scrapes. I'll probably ice it after work, though, just to be on the safe side.

My average pace per mile was 17:14, pretty slow, but faster than some of my other mid-week runs this summer. I was a little tentative, not knowing how my body was going to react, and then, of course, there was the fall. (I've learned how to make my Garmin Forerunner stop automatically when I do, so that feature came in handy!) As I write this, I'm feeling a little stiff (mostly in the knee that I fell on), but I feel like I could've given a little more out there. Now I know.

I ended up run/walking 3.48 miles in 60 minutes.

Mile Splits:
1) 17:25
2) 16:38 (Better pace there! Wonder why.)
3) 17:44 (the mile in which I fell)
Last 0.48 of a mile in 8:13 (On target to be my second best mile)

I think my overall training plan will include three runs--one speed workout, one hill workout, and then the weekend long run, and crosstraining on most other days, with a rest/easy day on the day before my long run (which usually falls on Saturday). I may do an easy run on a crosstraining day sometimes. I'll see how it all goes, and tweak things along the way. I'm so eager to improve my speed and endurance! (To do that, I need to stay healthy too!)

Umstead's the Charm

Well, I decided to return to Umstead State Park for my run this morning, to see if going back would be enjoyable. I was a little wary of the bugs, since I have two big bug (horse flies, I think!) bites on my legs from Monday! I'm so glad I went back, as I had another good run, this time sans bugs, and I had an even better average pace today than Monday! Plus, I went a little farther! Can you tell I'm excited?!

I also listened to music instead of podcasts today, and I think the songs on my workout playlist helped me pick up the pace a little.

On my way home, I stopped at the gym and rode the recumbent bike for a bit. Final result:

1) Ran/walked 2.13 miles in 36 minutes
2) Rode 2 miles in 11:11 minutes on the recumbent bike

Thanks, Umstead!

I decided to get one of my mid-week runs in this morning, eventhough I'm still a little sore from the weekend. I got in the car, and decided what I need was a change of scenery from the gym and my normal running route. So, I headed to Umstead State Park! Man, what a nice change of scenery that was! It had rained in the night, so the trees and plants had that nice, post-rain-uber-green look to them. There was very little car traffic, so I had the park almost to myself. I listened to music, which as a nice change of pace from the usual podcasts too. The only out-of-the-ordinary thing was that these big, winged buggy things started coming after me after I turned around. (I think a couple of them were tag teaming me!) I tried to outrun them for a while, and thought I'd succeeded, but I learned the hard way that there was one still one me when I sat down in the car! (Yikes!)

After I got Big Buzz out of my car, I headed for the gym, and got a 2.32 mile (13 minutes) bike ride to go with my run/walk (1.94 miles, 33 minutes) in the park. Ahhh, I'm feeling better today!

Not-So-Long Run

This morning I decided I didn't feel like a group run, so I did part of my run at Umstead Park, and the rest on the treadmill at the gym. As it happens, I have things to go to four out of the past five nights (including dinner with George's family last night for Barry's birthday). My introverted self needed some alone time, so I slept in a little, and headed over to Umstead Park.

Okay, so it wasn't JUST the busy week that kept me closer to home than the Galloway group's Shelley Lake run this morning. The plantar fasciitis in my left foot is bothering me, and I didn't want to be at the back of the group again this morning!

I did enjoy the time at Umstead, which included some time on dirt roads and the discovery of a lake there. I ended up doing 4.09 miles there, and 4.15 miles on the treadmill at the gym. The 8.24 mile total took me 2:12:20. I wish I could've run longer, but 8+ miles is okay......

Umstead Park Run

This evening I participated in the North Carolina Roadrunners Club's (NCRC) August Trail Series at Umstead Park in Raleigh. Most of the group ran an 8K, but I took advantage of the 5K option. After that first trail run I did with the group last month, I have this fear of coming in dead last, which shouldn't have bothered me like it did.

The last time I did the trail series, later in July, I recognized someone from the Galloway group, who introduced me to some other people. This evening I didn't recognize anyone, though plenty of other people seemed to know each other. How does that happen?! *sigh* I did talk to one lady afterward who, as it turns out, is a physical therapist with plantar fasciitis. I got a good recommendation (I think) from her about a podiatrist for my foot issues. He's at North Carolina Orthopaedic Clinic. I am a bit discouraged at the thought of expensive orthotics, but I'm also discouraged by the pain I feel when I run anything much more than three miles.

I also talked to a guy who was there serving as a medical contact (required for the club's permit to run there this evening), who sounds like he runs about the same pace as me. He said he doesn't run the group events because he's afraid he can't keep up. Boy, could I relate to that!

Anyway, I did run 3 miles this evening, in 43:10, not great, but not bad considering the humidity and the hills.

Another Run/Walk Morning

This morning I headed back out for a run/walk, against some better judgement, considering I had a long run 24 hours earlier. I felt a little better about yesterday's run with time, but I needed to prove to myself that I could stretch myself, especially without someone else setting my pace.

I decided to drive to the park for the run. The gates were already open when I got there at 7:30, a little late for me. The signs say the park doesn't open until 8, so I was surprised that I didn't have to park along the road and jog in. At first I thought, "Oh cool!" But I ended up have to share the roads with some cars and the air with a few swarming buggies. It felt good to get a good run/walk in though, 4.05 miles in a little over an hour.

For good measure, I stopped at the gym on my way home and got 20 minutes in on the recumbant bike. It was nice to show myself I still had some energy left.

After being a bit out of sorts over yesterday's long run, I really enjoyed running on my own. My introverted running self got recharged.

Umstead Park Run

I returned to Umstead Park this morning for a run, as I wanted to be able to take a break from running tomorrow before Saturday's long run. Yesterday's run was a little blah, so I was wondering how today's run would go. I ended up going 3.05 miles in 43:31 minutes, two minutes per mile faster than yesterday's pace. :-) I feel good about being able to pick up the pace today!

I think one reason I've been feeling some blahs with my running lately is that my target race is in November. I need goals a little closer in. One of my next goals will be to run a 5K without walk breaks, like I used to be able to do before the injuries.

Nice Outdoor Run

Yesterday I did 15 minutes on the recumbant bicycle, and 25 minutes on the elliptical. Had a busy day, too rushed to blog in the morning, and too tired last night!

This morning I decided I needed a change of routine, so I got going a little earlier and drove over to Umstead Park for my run. It was so peaceful! I even saw a couple of deer, in addition to the birds and squirrels. The rolling hills were a pretty good workout, to boot. I went 2.58 miles in 41:24.