My dorky runner face

Hey guys! So there are tons of pictures of me on the internet, most of them in costumes or historical garb, mostly with a lot of makeup or costume stuff and great lighting (i.e. here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/) But now, I bring you the first online photo of me as a runner! Yay! No makeup, no glam, just dorky me ready for a workout. (:
This is before and after a run.

4.25 miles

4.25 miles! I still managed an average 8:41/mile pace. I'm getting pretty comfortable with this approximate pace (okay, comfortable might not be the best word, but consistent when I run hard!) I probably need some more speed work if I want to become competitive in my age group in races. We're starting with 5K. I have a history with that distance (high school cross country!), but in general, I've always been more competitive the longer the distance (was best at 5K and worst at 400 meters). So I plan on entering longer races in the future, once I feel good about my pace for those distances. Half marathon by next year for sure!

4 Miles

Yay, I'm up to 4 miles! My boyfriend and I ran 4 miles together the last two days. We ended up hitting an average 10:07 pace the first day and a 9:50 pace the second day.

Today I ran 4 miles alone (with music) and hit an average 8:46 pace. My fastest for 3.5 miles was previously 8:45/mile, so I'm basically back on track, just with an extra half mile of jelly legs! This pace was always achieved alone with no talking. Talking makes it slower, of course, but it is also fun to run with someone.

Oh...so speaking of music, what songs do I listen to while running? Here is today's list:
Ladytron - Burning Up
Ace of Base - Beautiful Life
Boney M - Rasputin
Diverge - To Hell (Razed in Black Mix)
Ladytron - Sugar
Lords of Acid - Young Boys
Marilyn Manson - Fight Song
Nine Inch Nails - Gave Up
and during my cooldown, Nine Inch Nails - Happiness in Slavery

Back with a faster tempo and more distance

I had 4 days off this weekend because we were out of town. I last ran Thursday. I did 3.5 miles at an 8:45 pace. I tried to push myself a bit since I knew I would have so much time off.

I ran again yesterday. I got a really late start, so I knew I didn't have that much time to do a long run before dark. I tempo'd one mile out and crossed the line at 7:38, then came back the same mile at a 9:00 pace. 2 miles in 16:42 total, the fastest I've done yet!

Today I'm planning a longer run. I want to increase my long distance to 4 miles today, so I'll probably do something like a 9:15-9:30 pace the first time.

I want to run faster!

I like to run fast. I like to win stuff, conquer stuff, be awesome, all of that. I'm not there yet, and I know that. But I will get there!
My body really wants to run at a 6:15-7:15 pace (this is per mile), but I can't maintain it right now. Legs, I promise to raise my fitness level, and one day you can move at your preferred rate!

Really though, right now I'm doing most of my long runs at roughly a 10 minute pace, sometimes a bit faster. My two fastest runs have been just under 9 minute pace, 8:52-8:54 per mile, average.

This is what I've been doing the past couple weeks, at my current fitness level, not necessarily in this order. I am trying to learn to listen to my body (and reading Runner's World), so I adjust workouts accordingly. It's been a long time, so my listening skills are definitely in the working-on-it stage, but we're doing pretty well.
2 days of long slow runs at ~10 minute pace, ~3.5 miles
1 day speed work - typically some form of fartleks or tempo runs
1 day faster pace, this is where I just broke 9 minute pace, 3 miles
1 day slightly slower, something like 9:20ish, 3.5 miles

Today I did fartleks. Always exhausting! Today when I started them, I said, body, go! And my body went...at a 6:18 pace. In fact, my first 4 fartleks were all 6:40 pace and under. This is much faster than I can go for more than a minute at a time right now, but I want to work up to this pace for longer amounts of time.

When I got back to running a few months ago, I was having trouble maintaining a 10:30-11:00 pace for more than, say, a mile. Already I have improved so much, and I am really excited! Guys, this is so cool!

Building Up

I've been running consistently this time for a few months. I can do 3.5 miles pretty easily now. It took a while to get there though.

My boyfriend and I started running together a few months ago. We started with 1 mile out and walked 1 mile back. We did this 3 days per week. Then we slowly increased the amount of running. Eventually we were running the full 2 miles. Over the next few weeks, we gradually built up to 2.5 and then 3 miles. We also added a 4th running day.

I am now up to 3.5 miles most days. Some days I just run 3 miles, and last week I started to add speed work. I'm really excited about getting faster now, and since I haven't done this in a long time, it's very important that I don't push myself too hard. I'm running 5 days per week - unless a commitment keeps me from a day, in which case I try to make it up over the weekend but am not upset with myself if I can't. When you have a sporadic Los Angeles schedule like I do, it's important to not beat yourself up over things you can't quite control.

Eventually, I will increase my distance again. One day, I'd like to run a half marathon and eventually a full marathon. For now, I'm going to see how I fare in a 5K. I can definitely do the distance, and I want to see if I can do it competitively!

Introduction

Hello! My name is Daisy. I'm just a normal girl who likes to run!

I was a competitive runner in high school but lacked the motivation to find time to keep up my training in college. I have participated in many other sports, and I've found that running is still my favorite. Over the years, I have been a casual, on-and-off runner, in and out of good shape, blah blah blah. Now I want to become competitive again! I also want to motivate myself to keep up with my running schedule so I can actually stay in shape, and I thought blogging might help.

Dixie was my nickname in high school, given by my cross country coach. I guess I came to identify with this name as a runner. And now Dixie is back!