New Sneakers

I finally have new sneakers!  After two failed attempts to order some extremely cheap ones from Dick's Sporting Goods only to be disappointed days later when I found out they were unable to fulfill the order, I finally just went to the store and picked up the last pair of Brooks Pure Cadence2 sneakers they had.  Luckily it was a size 11.  Yep.  I have big feet.  Well only when it comes to sneakers.  I take between a 9 and a 10 for everything else.  However, what I've read online has said you should buy bigger for running sneakers to help prevent black toenails.  I am willing to have surfboard feet in an effort to save my nails.

I also ordered a pair of mens Mizuno Wave Rider 16 from another place.

I got them in a mens size 9.  The sneakers that I've been wearing, men's Brooks Pure Cadence, were a size 8.5.  They seemed almost big enough but since I have a black nail right now (gross, I know) I wanted to go a half size up.  I tried them on the treadmill today (just in case they were uncomfortable) and they were GREAT!  I can't wait to try the Brooks on the treadmill.

I've been doing a lot of biking lately.  On mornings I have off, I've been doing between 16 and 21 miles on the bike.  It's been a lot of fun.  I don't think I'll ever get used to a bike seat, though.  Why can't they be more comfortable??  I think the cross training is really helping me a lot.  I feel better on the days that I run.  I've also been doing some intervals on the treadmill on Mondays (or when it rains).  I've been moving the running intervals up a tiny bit faster each time I do it.  It has been feeling pretty good. 

Last week I was on a staycation.  We did a couple short bike rides (just over 6 miles each time) and then a lot of manual labor dealing with a clogged storm drain on the back porch.  I know why plumbers charge so much.  If I had to snake a storm drain for someone else, I'd charge 10,000 an hour.  It was hard work.  Each section of steel coil was 8 feet long and weighed a ton.  You had to hook them together and take them apart and pretty much needed a minimum of 3 hands to do it.  Then we'd periodically pull all the coil out of the drain and I'd have to run it up the yard to get it out of the water (we live on a big creek).  It was crazy.  We snaked 120 feet of this crazy coil.  I was so glad when it was over but also pretty bummed because even though we pulled out a lot of roots, I don't know for sure if the problem is fixed.  We may have to dig up right behind the back porch to see what is going on.  I really don't like disorder and disarray, so I'm not looking forward to a muddy patch in the middle of the yard.  We'll see what happens. 

Achievement Unlocked: New sneakers

Achievement Unlocked: 5 Miles

Yesterday I set a goal for myself.  Today I achieved it.

I set out to run 5 miles this morning.  The Library has started it's summer hours so we open an hour later.  This means, while I still have to be there by 9:00, I can show up right at 9:00 and not have to worry about rushing to turn things on an open up.  I felt like I had the time to push for 5 miles and recover (meaning: stop sweating before my shower) before I had to be at work.

What a success.  When I reached my normal turn around point, I just kept going.  I wasn't sure where I was going to turn around, but I went around a couple of more bends in the road and up another small hill before turning around.  I also ran past (very slightly past) my usual turn for the final stretch home because of oncoming traffic. 

By the time I ran up to the porch and stopped, I had gone 5.5 miles!!!  I couldn't believe it.  The other major shocker was that I had done it in 53 minutes!  The entire run I felt like I was going slower than my usual pace.  It was kind of intentional because I wanted to take it easy on my knee, but I also didn't want to burn out and not reach my set goal.  So, it turns out I was on my normal pace.  Amazing.

I finished up with a 10 minute walk on the treadmill to cool down.  I think this helped my knee tremendously.  Before, I would finish my run and just stretch out.  But walking and cooling down for a while then stretching seemed to be better for me.  I couldn't figure out why when I'd run on the treadmill my knee wouldn't hurt, but it would after a run outside.  The only difference I can figure is usually when I finish running inside, the show I'm watching isn't over so I walk until it is.  It worked for my knee today.  I'll have to see if it keeps working.

My next goal is to buy new sneakers.  I can really tell how much I need them.  The arches of my feet are starting to ache and cramp during the day.  The usually is the telltale sign that sneaker change is long over due.  I am looking at Mizuno brand right now (I currently run in a pair of Brooks).  Hopefully I can find a pair that don't break the bank!

Achievement Unlocked: Run 5 miles

Back from Vacation

Sorry for the little break there.  I went on a couple of quick trips.  The first was to NYC and was so much fun (despite the sweltering 98 degree heat).  We were only there for an overnight stay, but we had a great time.  We walked up 5th Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Park Avenue heading toward Yankee Stadium.  Eventually my flip flops started to hurt enough that we picked up a train in Harlem to go the rest of the way to the stadium.

The game was fun, but it was so hot I had trouble concentrating.  I also missed the first pitch which was a homerun!  Sure it was a homerun for the Blue Jays, but still!  The best part of the game was people watching (and drinking water).  There was a huge group of kids a couple rows down from us and they just kept getting up to get more food the entire game.  It was amazing.  I couldn't stop watching.  What were they going to get next?  Oh, baseball hat sundaes.  After that?  Pretzels.  Then? Peanuts.

The next day we spent the morning wandering around Central Park and making our way toward the Museum of Natural History.  We decided to spend the last bit of time we had in the city there because at 9:00 it was already 90 degrees and we wanted some place cool! 

We grabbed some street food (falafel for me!) and headed back to the hotel to pick up the car and head home. 

The next day we flew down to Florida to pick up some things at my grandma's house, including her car, so that all the things we wanted would be out before it sold.  It was not a fun trip.  I really just wanted to stay down there and refuse to leave.  Obviously, I didn't.  I really don't like being too hot.  But I did forget out nice expensive electric toothbrush and new toothbrush heads!!  I couldn't believe it. 

So now that we're back and things are settling into a routine again, I am back working out.  I am having some minor setbacks running.  I've been doing the treadmill this week because we've had rain, but my left knee has been bothering me a lot.  It makes my hip hurt, too.  I don't like it.  I am used to my right knee bothering me from an old injury but this is new.  It didn't start until I began running outside.  I guess I'll do more stretching to see if that helps.  If not, I suppose I'll be making some kind of doctor's appointment.

My most recent goal was to run a mile in under 9 minutes.  I did one in 8:54.  My new goal is going to be to run 5 miles.  The most I've done at once (outside) is 4.3.  Since I started running outside I had a really hard time running on the treadmill.  I feel like I've gone miles and miles and when I check, I see I've barely gone 2 miles.  Usually I end up running a mile, doing intervals, and then running the last half of a mile to make it to 3 miles.  So since I'm doing better outside, I'd like to try to up the miles there. 

I need new sneakers also, so there will be an upcoming post about that in the near future.

Achieving a Goal

I believe I stated in my first post that I am a new runner. I am also something of an accidental runner.  I've always joked that I hate running so much that I'd have to be chased by a crazed lunatic to do any now that I'm out of gym class and don't have to meet the President's Physical Fitness standards.  And to be honest, if I was being chased by a crazed lunatic, I might give up after a brief sprint.  I just have never liked running.  It always seemed so hard and I was immediately out of breath. 

However, the last five years or so I have been working out regularly - meaning 5 or more days a week.  I always stuck to walking outside when the weather was nice (or when it was not so nice the year we had a dog) and various DVDs (anything Jillian Michaels, Jackie Warner, Tony Horton, etc.).  Then I was lucky enough to inherit an ancient treadmill.  It was a game changer.

I pretty much ignored it the first week I had it.  Then I used it occasionally - but only for brisk walks.  Even still, I pretty much preferred walking outside.  Then we put a TV in the room with the treadmill and hooked up Netflix.  Again.  A game changer.

The final pieces of the puzzle was a HIIT workout I found in an issue of Self Magazine.  You were supposed to do high intensity intervals three times a week.  They were all running intervals.  I figured I'd give it a try.  Why not?  I can run fast for 60 seconds because I know I'll get to walk for 60 seconds immediately after.  I went through this workout - I believe there were five or six weeks to it - and made it almost to the end.  I forget what made me stop.  But Fridays were always supposed to be more of a distance run and not intervals and I always kind of chickened out on those days and just repeated one of the interval workouts.

Well fast forward a year or two.  I'd started doing Piloxing (sidenote: everyone should try piloxing it is so fun!) and had found a short jogging workout online that slowly increased your speed and then worked you back down to a walk.  The more I did this workout, the longer I would try to do each jogging interval.  If it said 4 minutes, I tried to go 8.  Then I started increasing the incline.  One day, I finally said "I wonder how far I can actually jog without stopping?"  I had recently found another workout about training for a 5K from Self Magazine.  The chart suggested jogging at around 5mph.  That seemed easy enough.  The jogging workout I had been doing had me going 6 mph or 6.5 mph for a couple minutes at the fastest.  I surely could handle 5 mph.

The next day I was determined.  I put on Season One Episode One of Dawson's Creek (yep, it is my show of choice when running on the treadmill now).  I put the treadmill up to 5 mph and immediately covered up the display with a towel so I couldn't see how far I'd gone.  I finally couldn't stand it and peek at the display when I was about 1.5 miles in.  I couldn't believe I had gone that far without stopping.  I decided I was going to try to go for 3 miles.  I did it!  I was so excited.  I felt superhuman.  No one in the history of time had run as far or as fast as I had.  Was this the high everyone talked about with running?

I don't want to say I was immediately hooked, but I definitely decided to run 3.25 miles the next day and the day after.  So I guess I'm kind of hooked.  I am reading Runner's World all of the time and trying to find out everything I can about running. 

Achievement Unlocked: Run 3 miles without stopping.

First Post

Welcome to Peanut Butter and Popcorn...a blog about my favorite foods, fitness, and whatever else is my favorite thing that day.  I always start blogs and update them for a day or two, but I've recently started running (jogging?) and I think it will motivate me to keep going if I write about it.

So, Peanut Butter and Popcorn.  Two of my favorite foods.  Peanut butter is a food that tastes good alone or spread on anything - Chex (or any cereal), celery, carrots, pickles, popcorn, bananas.  I could go on.  I also eat what might be considered an obscene amount of popcorn.  I like Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn best.  I eat so much of it, though, I have to cut it with plain air popped popcorn.

While I am not a chef, dietitian, or personal trainer (I'm a librarian), I hope to share great recipes and workouts that work for me.  And maybe you'll find they work for you, too!

Let's do this!