Keep a training log, seriously!

Okay. I just wanted to blog about the importance and benefits of keeping a training log.

I personally have kept a training log ever since I started running. I write down my route, distance ran, time taken, my pace, and how I felt that day. It has been so beneficial to keep a record of all of this! Last week I was feeling particularly unmotivated to do anything. I didn't want to go running, I didn't want to go to zumba.. NOTHING. I just wanted to lay down and sleep all day. Plus, I also thought that since I took off so much time from running that I was going to be a slow poke and not be able to make it my normal distance or anything.

Well, I decided to put on my shoes and go. I ran a shortened version of my route and when I got back I felt energized and alive. Then, I looked at my watch and realized it was also one of my fastest times. I went to log this into my book and realized that I was getting faster and faster. All the days I felt negatively about my runs and that I wasn't improving at all and that I was a turtle.. I looked through my log and realized how much progress I have made in just 2 months! I have cut nearly minutes off of some of my routes and I have realized how much my mood has improved right when I get back from a run.

So, if you aren't keeping a log.. You totally should! It is amazing.. especially during those down times where you feel like you're not moving anywhere (literally).

I use the training log I got with my subscription to Runners World but I also use mapmyrun.com to log all of my running based workouts. :)

I am so so bored at the office I figure I should update. I just wish they would let me go home and go back to sleep if they had nothing for me to do.

Well.. I am honestly dreading the winter months that are coming up. I went to try running on the treadmill on Wednesday and I hated it so much. I became so dizzy and disoriented and I had no motivation. I couldn't concentrate on the music I was listening to (since I don't normally listen to my iPod on the road) and I also couldn't keep my posture straight. I kept looking down at the time on the treadmill and becoming so obsessive about it. It was terrible. Plus.. there's just so many other people running around me. I'm so used to being out there alone on the road with the occasional runner passing by here and there. I felt like I was being watched and judge because I'm fat. :( I only made it 2 miles before I felt nauseous enough and fed up with it.

I want to keep running through the winter but we get snow really bad up here and it gets super cold. I don't really know what I'm going to do. It's really worrying me lately.

I am super tired as well. My sleep has been out of whack and I feel exhausted all the time. I can't wait to get out of work so that I can go eat and take a nap. It's about all I'm looking forward to doing today. Yesterday was such a long day meeting my first graders and being out in the schools again. I just wish I was a teacher fulltime already.

I have my race on Sunday but I don't feel so motivated or excited about it. Maybe because no one really donated all that much money to sponsor me and the cause. I'm still going to go and try to have a great time and possibly PR my 5k race pace but yeh. Meh. I'm hoping the excitement will come soon.

Looking into registering for the turkey trot 5k in Coney Island when I go home for Thanksgiving. We'll see how that goes.

Well.. this didn't really kill all that much time now did it? I'm so exhausted. I just wanna lay my head on the desk and fall asleeeeeeeep.

I had my first fall last night. I was about a quarter mile into my run when my sneaker got caught on a mound of dirt which sent me like a projectile forward. I scraped my knee and my elbow pretty badly. It was weird.. I sat there on the floor for a few minutes. I checked my Garmin watch to make sure it wasn't broken. I was upset that there was a hole in the elbow of my new running jacket which has cost a ton. Then I got up.. was getting ready to walk back but then I turned around and kept going. I just wanted to run and I felt like I was wasting it by just 'giving up'. It wasn't the best idea but somehow I finished my 3 mile route. :( Went to my friends room afterwards and told him I fell and he went with me to my room to patch me up.

Now I'm limping all over the place. Looks like I might be off the road for a bit.. Hopefully not too long since I have a race on Oct 17th. We'll see.. I'm considering still going to the gym and maybe just doing the elliptical and some super low impact stuff.

Going to definitely do some yoga tonight. Need to release the tension I feel in my body.. especially in my arms. Plus.. I think I need some peaceful activity after last night.