A month or so ago I read about running skirts in one of the groups over at Ravelry and decided I’d give ’em a try. I ended up ordering a GymGirl from SkirtSports.com (mostly because they were on clearance and they’d ship to Australia). The skirt came on Friday, so I wore it out for my “long” run today. While I’m definitely sold on the idea of a running skirt, I’d only rate this particular one a 7 out of 10.

First, the pros: The fabric was really great at wicking away sweat, and I felt like I was much cooler than I usually am (in normal gym shorts). There was no bunching between my legs – which rules – and definitely no chafing. My bum looked very cute, if I do say so myself.

Now, the negatives: I pretty much hated the waistband. It’s wide and flat, which is fine if you’ve got a nice flat stomach. Me, my belly sticks out a bit. It looks great when you’re standing in front of the mirror, but as soon as you actually start to move, the waistband promptly rolls up and heads towards your hips like a cheap pair of pantyhose. (And I HATE pantyhose.) I kept trying to either hike it up over my belly (in which case the shorts and skirt didn’t offer a lot of, ahem, coverage) or trying to get it to sit below my belly (in which case I felt like it was going to roll even farther and expose my bumcrack). The waistband issue also meant that the skirt rode up in front, so I was tugging on it fairly frequently throughout the run. The only other problem I had was the single pocket, which I carried my iPod in. Somehow part of the stitching on the side came undone and I now have a hole in my pocket. I’ll have to re-stitch it once I’ve washed it.

So overall, I’ve decided that while I definitely like the idea of a running skirt, this particular one isn’t a perfect match for me. (Luckily I bought it on clearance so I don’t feel too bad about it.)

Today officially marks one month of giving up Diet Coke. Today was also the first time I had two workouts in one day, running in the morning and swimming in the evening.

I would’ve killed for a Diet Coke afterwards.

Earlier this week I managed to catch my friend Nat (husband to Staci) on IM, and we chatted briefly about our training programs. (He’s doing a half-marathon about the same time as I am.) After hearing about his most recent “long run,” I felt inspired to push even farther myself. Yesterday I headed out on my longest run since last year’s City to Surf. I headed up Cleveland Street all the way to the end, then past Fox Studios, down to Centennial Park, around an entire lap of the park, then all the way home again. It was just over 10K (about six miles). I was feeling a little achy in my lower back (I saw my physio again on Thursday) so I decided to take it easy. I started doing 5:1 intervals (five minutes running, 1 minute walking), but switched to 4:1 about halfway through. The interesting thing is, I still managed to keep a really good average pace. I’m not far off what I need to do to make the time cutoff in the race. I did the 10K in 77 minutes, and for the race I need to do 11K in that time. That includes probably ten minutes of warm up and cool down walking too, so without those I’d have been even faster. And what’s even more remarkable: I didn’t get any side stitches! I think the run-walk breaks are helping with that a lot. My friend Susi lent me a copy of John Bingham’s No Need for Speed, and I love the idea that you don’t need to go fast to be a “real runner.” I’m starting to feel more confident about this race!

Of course, I’m pretty sore today. I think we might head over to the pool later for a recovery swim…

I had a realization at my swimming lesson tonight. Swimming is HARD. I know that sounds stupid, but I’ve never before used swimming as a method of getting from A to B. It’s always been for cooling off at the beach or floating on the lake or playing, never for transportation. So I never really thought much about the mechanics of it before. On the few occasions I’ve tried to swim freestyle, I’d just sort of throw myself into it, with the kicking and the paddling and everything. And yeah, I sucked at it. Now that we’re breaking it down into its separate parts, I’m suddenly aware that a swimmer has to do lots of things all at the same time: floating, blowing bubbles, kicking, paddling, and timing the breathing. Folks, I’m one of those proverbial people that has trouble walking and chewing gum. Doing five things at once is a huge, HUGE challenge for me. It’s no wonder I had trouble with it before. At least with running, really all I have to worry about is not tripping.

Anyway, we added our arms into the mix tonight (but still with the kickboards). We went up and down half the length of the pool, trying to time our breathing to the same side every time. That’s still the part that’s giving me the most trouble right now. I’m not fast enough at it, and I’m still bringing my head up too high as I gasp for breath. I think it’ll come with practice. Tonight was also the first time I feel like I got a decent workout, because kicking up and down the pool (even just half a length) is surprisingly tiring. I exchanged phone numbers with one of the other girls in the class and we’re going to try to practice together one night a week. Fun!

Entries for the Sydney Half-Marathon are now open… and I just signed up. I’m scared sh*tless about the time cutoff. I was only able to run once last week, which was disappointing since I’d managed to stick to three times a week since Christmas. I told myself that I’d be better off resting and fighting off this virus than weakening myself and making it worse. Anyway, I’m committed now so there’s no backing out. (Also, it’s now been five days since my last Diet Coke. The Snook joked on the weekend that my flu symptoms were actually DTs from the withdrawal.)

Five miles. Eight kilometers. My legs felt great, except for the persistent feeling that I was wearing 2kg ankle weights. Why do you feel really heavy some days and really light on others? So weird.

So far so good this week. I had a great run on Tuesday, and then I actually went out for another one on Wednesday. (I’m trying to increase up to four runs per week.) My legs felt pretty sore afterwards, so I decided it was time to call in a specialist. I did a Google search for recommended massage therapists for runners in Sydney and turned up This CoolRunning messageboard thread. On the basis of that, I rang Coby at Muscle Medicine and booked in for a session this morning. After he heard the history of my aches and pains, he had a look at my running shoes and my posture. The verdict is that I have a slight twist when I stand and run, tilting my left hip towards the front. This in turn caused my left quad injury, and my dodgy hamstrings, and my tense shoulders, and all kinds of stuff I never suspected. “So what do we do to fix it?” I asked. Coby just flexed his fingers ominously. Oops. He gave me the massage of my life. He actually spent most of the time on my back, telling me that it’s no good focusing on my legs if I’m just going to re-injure them again. Fair enough. He warned me that my back is going to be covered in bruises, and that his patients’ spouses are often surprised when they see them! The real pain came when he moved onto my hamstrings. Ow. Ow. Ow. I felt pretty good afterwards though, and I’m hoping to be recovered enough tomorrow to go for a run. I also asked him about the whole stretching issue, since – after reading Galloway – I haven’t been doing it. He agrees with that course of action for me, saying that I seem to have a decent amount of mobility, and what would benefit me more is core strengthening. I guess it’s time to book in those swim lessons, right?

Well, I was bound to have a bad week eventually. I went out for my first run on Tuesday intent on increasing my running time by 10% to 28 minutes. I only made it about half that. I just felt so tired and run-down. Later that night, I was getting into the shower when I felt a sudden twang of pain in my left quad. Crap. An injury ON TOP of a bad run. I decided to give myself some time off. I spent the next three days icing my leg and rubbing it down with Voltarin. I saw my doctor on Friday and asked whether there were any anti-inflammatories that were safe for my stomach. Ibuprofen and other NSAIDS are a no-go for me, but he gave me a prescription for a new type that’s supposed to be gentler. On Saturday, I gingerly headed out for a run. I just did laps around the park (so I wouldn’t be too far away from home if it started hurting), and I tried to take small steps (shuffling, really) as much as possible. Basically, I took it easy. HOWEVER, I managed to last the whole 28 minutes and my leg felt fine. A little wobbly there at the end, but no significant pain. I took one of the new pills when I got home and that seemed to help a bit too. So it seems this week might not be the setback I feared it would be!

Today was the start of my fifth week of training. I’ve now been running regularly (as in, 3 times a week) for more than a month now, and I think I’ve turned a corner.* Running makes me feel good. It made me feel good before, but only in the “I’ve done something I hate and now I’m all tired but at least I feel kinda virtuous” way. But this morning, after another 25 minute non-stop jog with hills, I actually felt MORE energized at the end of the run than I did at the beginning. I felt like I could’ve kept going. I was actually happy, you know, in my head. It was seriously weird.

I finished reading Jeff Galloway’s Women’s Guide to Running last night. Quite a lot of the book is devoted to pointing out WHY you should run, which was wasted on me (since I’m “already there,” so to speak). I bought it for the practical information, and I found a few tips in there that I think are going to make an immediate impact. One of them is the recommendation that you have a cup of coffee about an hour before you run. THIS IS GENIUS. I feel so much more “peppy” and alert with a little caffeine. Another mindblowing idea for me is the admonition to take smaller steps. I’m tall, so my natural inclination is to take bigger strides when I try to speed up. This is a bad idea, and it often leads to injuries. (This is how I hurt my hamstring last year.) But by taking smaller, faster steps, I can speed up without overstriding and hurting myself! I’ve also stopped feeling guilty about not stretching religiously. Galloway says he thinks stretching tends to hurt more than it helps, so unless you’ve got a specific injury that requires it, you don’t really need to do it. I like that.

Oh! And I recorded a new “personal best” in the mile on Saturday. I broke eleven minutes! I know that’s not fast for most of you (and my teenage self would’ve laughed), but I felt really proud of that. I’ve been trying to run a ten-minute mile for more than five years now and I haven’t reached it yet. This time, I really think I’m going to get there.

* This morning’s euphoria may have been partially due to it being a much cooler and less humid run than I’ve had in the past month. I think it’ll only get better as we head into Autumn…