Running into Shape!

Let's talk about a little thing called running... We hate it! I mean come on, what normal human being actually enjoys this horrendous activity? Well... I am guilty to say that I actually started to! I am sorry my fellow lazy people, I have crossed over to the dark side! Please don't hate me! I am still that couch potato, netflix-lovin,' binge-watchin' girl at heart. I know a lot of us are. We always see those highly motivated, fitness-inspirational people on instagram, sit there, and say: "damn, wouldn't that be nice," as we shove a handful of chips into our mouths. I mean I am guilty of it too!

Besides just being lazy and hate working out, I think a lot of what attributed to my laziness is the fact that I have struggled on and off with severe fatigue due to anemia and a lack of other vitamins. Once you get into the cycle of sleeping constantly and waking up more tired and missing meals it is really hard to be motivated to do much else. Let's not get off track though...

People have always asked me: "If you hate running, why in the world are you doing a running challenge?" I really had to sit down and think of the answer to that because for the first time I was speechless, and if you know me at all, then you know that does not happen often. I finally found my answer, we will get more into detail another time, but essentially I don't like losing control (Camila Cabello's "She Loves Control" comes on in the background). Seriously though, it gives me anxiety when things are not within my grasps; I mean don't always have to pull the strings, but the option has to be there. So how does this tie into my ambition for running? I simply don't like how much control "running" had over me, so, instead despising it, I decided to master it.

We already spoke about the running challenge I did in January and because of the type of training I had to do for the Marine Corps, I was always so focused on time. I would shudder each time I heard we had to do a PFT, which consists of a timed 3 mile run. Due to the pace we run at, I never understood how people ran marathons. It was simply mind-blowing to me. My sister, a half-marathoner, told me you just have to control your pace. She goes on 5-mile runs all the time without breaking a sweat, and I just never understood it. I thought I could never do that. I mean the thought of the number"five" followed by "miles" seemed impossible. I just think about how exhausting those PFTs are, and because I am so accustomed to it, my natural pace is fast. I normally take off at 8 minutes per mile and that is why it is so exhausting for me to endure such heavy mileage. So this brings me to a challenge I found online, which intrigued me when I first saw it, but then I noticed they wanted me to add a mile each week! By the end of this challenge I should be at 7 miles?! That's insane! They want me to run HALF of a half-marathon in 4 weeks? A quarter marathon?! I almost passed up on it, but I am glad I didn't because it literally changed my life and how I view running.

I am going to link the website for the original challenge below because I altered three of the days within the beginning of the challenge, which I honestly did not need to do. That was just me telling myself I could not do it. I also posted my spreadsheet of how I organized the challenge down below. You can note the three days I altered in red. Even though I altered those 3 small minor details, I completed this challenge successfully! I still reached those 7 miles on my last run and now when I run 3 miles, I completely smoke it.

Link:

https://www.shape.com/fitness/cardio/30-day-running-challenge

https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/

Motivational Quotes-It helps! So seriously, click here

Breakdown:

Monday- Easy Pace

Tuesday- Intervals

Wednesday-Strength Training

Thursday- Tempo

Friday- Strength Training

Saturday- Long Run

Sunday- Rest

Day 1:

The first official day of the challenge is calculating your pace, which I decided not to do because I already knew my pace. So, essentially, you would be starting on a Friday (sorry my OCD people) and you would run a mile and see how long it takes for you to do so. You will then think about how fast you want to run that mile, and that will be your goal pace. Plug all this information into the MacMillian Running Calculator to get your 5k and 10k current and goal paces that you will need to use during the challenge.

Day 2:

On Saturday you will be conducting your first long run of 40 minutes. As per Shape, you need to run it slow enough that you can carry on a conversation without speaking in short, choppy sentences. I also decided to miss this day because I am one of those OCD people and rather start on Monday. Monday's run is basically the same thing except you have to try and extend it by 5 minutes and I did not find it worth running.

Day 3:

Roll it out. Get that foam roller and roll those muscles out. If you don't have one you can do some basic hamstring, quad, and calf stretches. A foam roller does help a lot more than just stretching on your own so consider purchasing one. I bought mine for about $10 at TjMaxx.

Day 4:

Finally day 1, for me at least. Monday you will conduct your first easy paced run! It says to extend your easy paced run by five minutes. So, if you ran on Saturday, do 45 minutes. If you are like me and skipped it, then you can do your 40 minutes. Once you reach 40 minutes, you can see if you can do five more. I had to call my friends to see if I can carry on a conversation. I had to force myself to run super slow pace of 11:55. I naturally run at a faster pace, and when I would catch myself at a 9 minute pace, I had to force myself to slow down and learn to jog.

Total Miles: 3.35 Pace: 11:55

Day 5:

I woke up with pinched nerves and soreness on my hips, which is weird, but then again I am always having lower body pains from my back. I think the slow pace affected my running form. When you run faster, you have more momentum. Instead of taking off and landing lightly, I would pull the breaks on my speed and thus pound the pavement a little harder.

Today was an interval run. Run 20 minutes at an easy pace (conversation holding pace) then alternated sprinting 1 minute and slowing down to an easy pace for the next minute. Repeat this 6 times. When you finish, smoothly transition into an easy paced, 8 minute run to cool down. When you are running keep thinking to yourself out of the 40 minutes of running you are only sprinting a total of 6. You can do it! I wanted to give up and stop at the third set but every time I hit the rest cycle, I thought: I could do one more! The minute of sprinting sucked for me but there was a lot of easy pace to balance.

Total Miles: 3.36 Pace: 11:42

Day 6:

Today is strength training day. Your leg and abdominal muscles support you to run longer and faster, so it is important to train them as well so that you don't lose muscle mass during cardio. Since Saturdays are your "long run" days, I recommend working on legs on Wednesday and abdominals on Fridays. I took an unorthodox route and began my very first day of Aerial Silks which is a full body work out. I will have a blog post about this soon!

Day 7:

Today is a tempo run, which is supposed to be a total of 5 miles, but I changed it to 3 miles because like I said, the number "5" scared me. Originally you would run 2 miles at an easy pace and 3 miles at your 10k pace. Instead, I did one mile at an easy pace and 2 miles at my 10k pace (9:49). It was an uncomfortable run because I had a cramp the whole way, which was probably from having GERD, but I did not give up! I kept telling myself it's just heartburn and to push through it. Half of the work is mental strength. The human body is capable of so much and as long as your not literally dying, who is to say you can't do it. Aim for those 5 miles!

Total Miles: 3 Pace: 11:45

Day 8:

Today is another strength training day where I had my second Aerial silks class and it left me sore from top to bottom! Take a look at what Shape recommends or do your own work out.

Day 9:

My first long run! So, depending on what your end-goal is, will determine what you will do for today's run. If you want to run farther by the end of this challenge, then you add 10 minutes to last Saturday's run (or Monday's if you skipped Day 2). On the other hand, if you want to run faster, which is my goal, then you add on a mile. Since I did not do Day 2, I added on a mile to the run I did on Monday. It was a nice run, I felt like I could definitely do more by the end.

Total Miles: 4.22 Pace: 11:45

Day 10:

My first rest day! I rolled on my foam roller and took it easy for the day!

Day 11:

Today is the second easy paced run of the challenge. The challenge is to conduct 35-45 minutes of running at, and you guessed it, an easy pace! I felt pretty crappy all day and eventually it was 11pm. I could not wait any longer to feel better, so I just went out and ran. I bet you can guess which end of the spectrum I chose... Yup, I did the bare minimum of 35 minutes, but the important thing is that I did it when most people would have said, "not today." At some point during your run, count how many times your right foot hits the ground in 60 seconds and multiply that number by 2. I got 146, 150, 166 and 172 consecutively each minute working on my foot turnover. The ideal range is 170-190. It helps you to not develop bad habits while running like: extending your feet out in front of you. Your feet should always remain under you. Try to lean forward at the ankles a little bit to help.

Total Miles: 2.85 Pace: 12:16

Day 12:

Interval day! Fun... So this is one of the three days I altered. Originally it consisted of a total of 4 miles, but I altered it to 3 miles. Anyways, you would start off with 1 mile at an easy pace. Upon finishing you begin your sets: run a quarter of a mile as fast as you can up-hill, then follow that by slowing down and running a quarter of a mile down-hill. You would repeat this 4 times, but I only did it twice. After finishing those sets, you would run 1 mile at an easy pace and your done! I had to do this on a treadmill because Miami is pretty flat. It went by pretty fast for me. It's probably because you are focusing on getting to that next mini goal of the rest cycle where you can slow down.

Total Miles: 3 Pace: 12:15

Day 13:

It's strength training day, which means aerial silks for me! So that means get out there and squat! The website provides exercises you can be doing on these strength training days but there's nothing better than some good ol' squats and deadlifts.

Day 14:

Today is a tempo run and the third and last day I alter of this challenge. The goal for the day is to run 1 mile at an easy pace and then follow it by a half-mile of each of the following: 10k pace, 5k pace, below 10k pace (which I interpreted as my goal 10k), recover/easy pace, below 5k pace (which again was interpreted as my goal 5k), another 5k pace, once again 10k pace, and recover! I changed those half-miles to quarter-miles which then adjusted the total mileage from 5 to 3. I really enjoyed this tempo run because you gradually get faster until you climax and then gradually slow it back down (and boy do I love those easy paces).

Total Miles: 3 Pace: 10:34

Day 15:

You already know what day it is. Strength training! Crunch your way to some washboard abs! I, of course, am simultaneously completing another challenge. So, I went to my aerial silks class!

Day 16:

It's that day of the week again where you accomplish a new goal! Your second long run! For today's run make sure to run the same pace throughout the entire run; your breath should be steady and will notify you if you are changing pace. I remember hearing people say they run "5 miles" as a typical run and in my mind, 5 miles was like a marathon. So today was special in particular because today I am supposed to add one more mile than last week's 4.33-mile run. So, to round things off, I am running 5 miles today! I successfully completed my 5 miles in 59 minutes and 3 seconds. I was so proud of myself and it didn't feel strenuous at all, I actually felt like I could have gone a little faster.

Total Miles: 5 Pace: 11:48

Day 17:

A much deserved rest day indeed! I laid down in Savasana for 5 minutes and pictured my goal for the end of this challenge. I ended up falling asleep!

Day 18:

They disguised today's challenge by titling it an "easy paced run." Yes, you will be running at an easy pace for 4 miles but it will be on the hilliest course you can find. Since I live on almost zero elevation, I had to go hit the treadmill on this one! I selected "hill intervals" and began my run. I almost gave up during the first mile because my left calf was burning. I made the mistake of doing 15% percent incline, which is the max, and setting myself to a 5.0 speed. After burning myself out in the beginning, I played around with the incline and kept it within a 1-5% range incline. Running on a treadmill for me is torturous, so I put on an episode of Friends and it definitely kept me distracted during the hill intervals.

Total Miles: 4 Pace: 11:49

Day 19:

Today's interval run is a total 48 minutes. Start by running 10 minutes at your easy pace. Then begin your sets: run 5 minutes below (faster) than you 5k pace and follow that with two minutes of a recover/easy pace. Do this 4 times and finish your run with 10 minutes at an easy pace.

Total Miles: 4.13 Pace: 11:37

Day 20:

Be right back, I will be spinning in the air for the next hour! Go work on those legs!

Day 21:

This tempo run is special for me because it will be the first tempo run I don't have to alter! Tempo runs have been a total of 5 miles since week 1 and I altered them until until my long run of 5 miles was accomplished. Now that it has been I can get down to business. For this tempo run, you will be running 2 miles at an easy pace and 3 miles at your 10k pace. For me my 10k pace is 9:49 but I was at 9:20-9:30 for those three miles! I still had so much energy that I ran my last half-mile at an 8 minute pace! My run time went from running 5 miles in 59 minutes on Saturday to 55 minutes today. Today's run definitely felt good!

Total Miles: 5 Pace: 11:02

Day 22:

I unfortunately missed today's aerial silks class, so I hit the gym! I decided to work on legs... worst mistake ever if you know you have a long run the next day! I tried to make my work out as light as possible and I was still sore!

Work out:

* 3 sets of squats with 10 reps of each 95, 115, and135 pounds consecutively

*2 sets of 10 reps of deadlifts

*4 sets of 10 reps of leg presses and then calf flexes

*4 sets of 10 reps of each leg curls and extensions

Day 23:

I am so sore from yesterday so I am actually taking my rest day today and running my long run on Sunday! As long as you finish the challenge and complete your goal, who cares! If you are running today, today's long run is adding on another mile or 10 minutes depending on your goal. Try negative splits; this is running the first half at your easy pace and then the pace for the second half will be dropped :20-:30 seconds.

Day 24:

I have been feeling pretty crappy all day, being that time of the month and all. I worked 6 days this week and I finally had some down time so I stayed in bed all day, and with that, I forgot to drink water. I finally set out to accomplish my 6 miles at 10 pm. I felt very heavy during the entire run but I kept myself moving. The moment I finished my run and started walking, I felt a wave of nausea come over me. I sat down to sip some water and started to feel better. I went to make my shake until I felt it all over again. I'm always pretty nauseous for one thing or another, so I didn't think anything of it. I was feeling very cold and I thought it was from the sweat so I go take a nice warm shower until my legs felt weak and I started losing sight. I knew something was wrong and I manage to get out of the shower and knock on my mom's door. The next thing I know I'm in my mom's arms as she caught me on the way to the floor. I managed to get out the word: Gatorade. My mom came back with a bottle and I as I began to sip, I started to feel better. I measured my blood pressure and it dropped from my usual 110/70 to 92/54! So word to the wise: Hydrate! If you sweat a lot and don't drink water your blood volume will drop. When you drink fluid, your blood volume increases; hence, building up pressure. Don't let this happen to you!

Total Miles: 6 Pace: 11:59

If you ran your run yesterday then go ahead and rest!

Day 25:

Today is our last easy paced run! Take advantage and enjoy those 40-50 minutes. Towards the end of your run, complete 5 striders. Essentially, striders are when you build up to your maximum sprinting speed, hold it for 10 seconds, and then bring it back down to your easy pace. That's it, you completed a strider. I enjoyed my 40 minute easy paced run, considering yesterday's fiasco.

Total Miles: 3.43 Pace: 11:40

Day 26:

Usually interval day is a total of 4 miles but today it's 5! I thought it was going to suck, but it actually was not bad at all, and before I knew it, I was done. Start off with a mile at an easy pace, upon the end of that mile you will start alternating between running a quarter of a mile fast and slow for 3 miles. End your run with a nice easy paced mile. I went at about an 8:00-9:00 minute pace for the "fast" portion of the run. You don't have to completely sprint but do about 50-60% of your maximum speed.

Total Miles: 5 Pace: 10:58

Day 27:

Well I'm off to purposely make myself nauseous all for a good work out and some fun! Meanwhile work on those abs!

Day 28:

Today was a progressive tempo run! Usually tempo runs are 5 miles but today its 4! You begin with 2 miles at your 10k pace, 1 mile at your 5k and the last mile below your 5k pace! That's right, no easy pace for us today. I ran the first two miles at a 9:57 minute pace, brought it down to 9:39 and my last mile to 9:13. Although I wanted my "below 5k" pace to be my goal pace of 8:04, I still succeeded at keeping it under my 5k pace. This run was definitely a strenuous one considering there was no easy pace to save you this time.

Total Miles: 4 Pace: 9:42

Day 29:

Sadly my class was cancelled today so I took it easy and did the suggested exercises listed on the challenge for today. They tell you to do reverse planks but they don't tell you how many reps or sets to do. I took it upon myself and decided to do 4 sets of 10 reps. It was very light and easy to ensure that tomorrows final long run goes smoothly.

Day 30:

Today is the day! I set out to complete my final run of the challenge! Today's goal is 7 miles. I am running a quarter marathon everyone! I am going to be 3 quarters away from my goal of completing a marathon! Don't forget today's challenge asks that you run the last mile as fast as you can at that given moment. I started out a 6:45pm and as I ran I was at a 10:30 pace and it felt good. I didn't feel the need to slow down any further, I felt like I was running a 12 minute pace! As I ran, the sun beamed on my face, complimented by a cool wind. I had amazing support who saw me off with party horns and texted me while I ran. I also had Gatorade ready at for me at my 4 mile mark and company following me in a car for my last 3 miles. I finished my run with a great big sign to motivate me. I felt really good during this run even though it was in the sun for most of it. Just make sure you hydrate, run light, and load up on carbs the night before.

Total Miles: 7.02 Pace: 11:08 Time: 1 hour 18 minutes 10 seconds

Welp, I did it! Yes, I had to change some days around and adjust a few distances on 3 of the runs, but I completed the goal. Although the perfectionist side of me is going a little stir-crazy right now, I did complete 4 easy paced runs, 4 interval runs, 8 strength training days, 4 tempo runs, 4 long runs and most importantly I reached the 7 miles that almost scared me away from this challenge to begin with.

Key things to remember!

1. What is in parenthesis/underlined is what the original distance was supposed to be but I altered it.

2. Find your own pace and goals with McMillian Running Calculator and use that for your 5k and 10k paces throughout the challenge

3. Easy pace means slow enough to carry on a conversation without speaking in short choppy sentences

4. Fast pace, for me, meant sprint or your goal pace

5. This is not like the "Running 31 days in a row" challenge you actually have rest days and days you do not run so if you need to switch days around, do it! As long as you actually complete each activity you are good! Heck, if you really need to, you can do your run on one of your strength training days. So don't get discouraged if life gets in the way.

6. Run outside as much as you can and have fun trying different routes! Indoors/treadmill running can be boring and make you lose motivation fast! If you can only run indoors because of the weather or because you do not live in a hilly area, try putting Netflix on your phone and enjoying an episode or two of Friends while you run because I know I did!

How I track my progress?

I use the Nike Run app! It is so easy to use and I just love it!

Total Miles: 66.42

Yours Truly,

Camila