Week 1: Portland Half – Baseline

Plan this week:

Mon: Run 3 Miles

Tues: Run 4 Miles

Wed: Cross/Strength Training

Thu: Run 3 Miles

Fri: Rest

Sat: Run 5 Miles

Sun: Rest

This week is all about baseline.  See, I’m a mountaineer, a hiker.  I can have 40lbs pack in my bag and walk 10 hours straight on some steep hill during 30mph winds, but I never run.  Sure, I ran on treadmill as part of my cardio training before or interval training, but I never done any long distance run, or consistent running within a week.   So this whole thing is new to me.    There’s a whole new thing I need to learn, different stretching technique, hydration (this one is similar, but have slight difference), even psychological aspect of the running.   After a couple runs, I found myself enjoy that more and more.     During the run, my mind is clear and it just me and my thought.   Sure, i know my surrounding but mostly they are just background image for me.   This is no different when I hike.   Some people like to have a conversation during the hike, and I am a completely opposite.   I don’t like to chit-chat at all.   I like to be alone with my thought (or my music) during hike, and I found that running give me the same peace.    I have a busy 10 weeks ahead of me, and hopefully I can improve my strength to do a long distance run (and survived this training!).

How it went down:

Monday:

It was raining and I was still exhausted from my climb.   The lack of sleep during the climb started to creep in.  I took today off from work so I can recover and I literally was in bed all morning.   Around two o’clock, I started to contemplate the idea to go out and run.  There’s this back and forth conversation in my head about ‘you should go out and run‘ and ‘but I just had my big climb and I’m so tired, and this bed is so comfy‘.    Two hours later, I finally managed to put my running shoes on and walk outside.   I put my hard shell on since it was raining and start running.  I was greeted by the hill immediately and I never hate my neighborhood hills so much until I had to run on it!  It was pretty brutal for the first 10 minutes and I did walked for a little bit to warm up.   Then I set my pace and started to run.   It wasn’t as bad as I thought.  I wasn’t struggling at all to do 3 miles (other than on those darn hill).   I remembered watching my foot moving and it was somewhat help me focus.   I did the whole 3 miles on 44 minutes.   Not bad for a first day.

Tuesday:

It was raining again and I was tired.  I didn’t feel like running on my neighborhood cause I was still traumatize by those hills, so I decided to go to the gym.   I hop on the treadmill and started to run.   The first 2 miles went by so quick that I barely noticed, but the third miles – I was starting to get bored.   I didnt’ feel a lot of struggles other than my mind kept wondering when I’m going to be done.   By the time I ran the fourth miles, I managed to distract myself by reading – which help a lot.   I finished 4 miles within 49 mins and felt pretty good afterwards.

Wednesday:

I woke up with a sore shins and hips.    I vaguely remember this muscle pain (hips) earlier on my training for my climb.   I thought that I did variety of strength training to strengthen my hips, but I guess running move the muscle in a completely different way than hiking.   I iced it and took some advil and decided to take a rest today.

Thursday:

The sun was out and it was a beautiful day!  I was going to just run on the treadmill at this gym by my work, but decided to run outside and enjoy the nice weather.   I mapped out my run, and head out to the waterfront park.   I started with just a walk for about 10 minutes, to get my closer to the park, so I can warm up.   I did 3 miles and I felt great!  I love running there!  The water gave it a nice breeze so it wasn’t too hot and I can see Mt. Rainier as I was running!

Friday:

Rest

Saturday:

It’s a long run day!  My Team In Training Coach, Andy Mount, uploaded my training plan to my Training Peaks calendar and he put me down for 6 Miles today!  That kinda caught me off guard a bit since I never run that long but when I told him that, he told me that 5 Miles is okay for this week, and even suggested me to do run/walk routine.  Run for 6 minutes and walk for 2 minutes.

We headed out around 8:30am to Snoqualmie Valley Trail.  The plan is to have John ride the bike alongside of me (so he can carry my water, heh) and we get to spend some time together and do our work out since he can’t run with his hip right now (he was diagnosed of Avascular Necrosis 6 months ago).    We park the car and head out to the what it looked like a trail and I started to run.   After a mile, I realized that we came back to where we started and a bit confused.   Turn out that the trail that I was on, wasn’t the one that I was supposed to be, but I decided to keep on going.   I did a loop on that dirt road and ended up run for 5.3 miles (well, I walked for 3/4 miles and run the rest).   I felt great during the run and afterwards.   My left hamstring feel a bit tight, but it was better after I stretch them.   I was pretty psyched when my iPhone app told me that I just completed 5 miles!    We drove around for a bit afterwards to look for the right trail and finally found it.    I know where to go for the next run!

Sunday:

Rest

Fundraising:

Yes, I know y’all just donate and support my climb but I also know that you are all very generous people and I hope that you can spare a latte this week and help me fund my future medicine.   Yes, I’m not kidding.   The money that raised from this event will go to research and development as well as patient support program for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.   Those research, hopefully, someday, will find a new cure or new medicine for blood disease.   Or, let me make it simple.   For me, since I’m a survivor with leukemia.    Check out the detail on my fundraising page at http://tinyurl.com/HelpYanni.   I have raised $400 so far, and a huge thank you for those who believe in my cause and supporting me.   You know who you are.    I love you all.