Friday, November 26, 2010

Milestones

I don't often look at my total mileage, so after adding the widget showing my total miles I was surprised.  I see my miles in daily and weekly increments, but I don't really notice the complete total.  I'm coming up on 300 miles, which is kind of a big deal for me.  I need to start paying more attention to that since seeing that number has motivated me to change it to 300.  I may even go walking today even though it's a rest day.  I also hit another milestone yesterday.  I do weigh myself fairly frequently and try not to get discouraged when my weight fluctuates, but yesterday the scale read 130.  I haven't seen my scale show that number since before I got pregnant.  I still have a few pounds to go, but I'm excited and newly motived to drop the last 5.  It will take a lot of work and probably some added exercises, but it's close.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Week Two - Almost complete

Well, today was my 2nd training day of Week 2 to get ready for the Marine Corps Half in May.  It was a less than stellar run, as far as runs go.  My pace time was a minute slower, but I'd like to blame that on the wind being in my face for about half the run and the horrendous stitch in my side that started part way up the hill (about half way through the run).  This was nor normal stitch, one that I would normally run through, this was bad, stretching from my upper rib cage down to my hip.  I've never felt anything like it.  I just had to walk the hill and wait for it to go away.  Once at the top of the hill it was a little better, but had already killed my mood.  And it was freezing outside (at least for Arizona).  Running when it's 40 degrees outside is really not my idea of fun, but training is way to important for me to punk out on a training day.  I may switch up training a little bit, because I really like running few miles and more often during the week.  Everything I've read so far says to add only 10% to your weekly mileage.  So, I'm going to go back to my 2 and 3 mile per day runs with a slightly longer weekend run and see how that goes.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Week One complete

I started the 10k training this week for the Nike + 10k coach.  Once I finish it, I will move on to the half marathon training.

Today was my long run.  I had to change the start date of this challenge/goal so the long run would fall on a weekend instead of on Thursday or Friday.  Week One's "long run" was 5 miles, my longest distance yet.  I broke it into a mix of running and walking so I wouldn't get too tired or try and do too much at once.  The goal is to finish a Half Marathon, not hurt myself before I even get the change to try.  There was a little bit of stiffness in my left knee and both hamstrings, but after doing some more reading, that might be because I didn't hydrate enough before my run.  I'm still learning all of this stuff.  The compression socks helped a lot, but the laces I bought for my shoes were too tight and my feet were getting tingly for the last 2 miles.  Gonna switch back to my old laces.  I've also decided that I need to stick to the same time every morning.  During the week I leave between 5 and 5:30 for my run and this morning I didn't leave until almost 7.  Will need to make sure I keep it consistent.  All in all it was a good training day, although I might regret taking Sevrine hiking this morning on top of the 5.11 mile run.  We'll see though.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Veteran's Day 5k



The day started out with a really tired kid, then a tired and really cold kid, then a crying kid because she couldn't run the 5k with Mom, then a really happy kid crossing the finish line first of the walkers with her Grandma, then a happy kid cheering her Mom across the finish line.  Had a great morning though.  Oh yeah, a very nice National Guard Recruiter asked me out. lol  What an eventful day, and all before 9:30.  The official race results are Mom and Sevrine finish first out of the walkers (no posted time though) and me finishing in 32:41 (a minute faster than my last 5k).  This was my first race in a skirt and besides the cold it was awesome.  The compression socks were a total blessing, keeping my legs warm, the blood flowing and at the end of the race, my legs still felt fresh.  Have to give credit to Runningskirts.com for making sure my skirt made it in time for the race, and the camo was perfect for Veteran's Day.  Can't wait til the next race.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Countdown to Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon

Okay, so the decision to tackle a half marathon may seem a little bit crazy, but I think I need the challenge. A goal to set for myself.  It's also a great way to get out to the East Coast and spend some time with my little sister.  I can't wait.  I need to see how much money I can save up for my plane ticket and expenses, because I might want to bring Sevrine with me.  We'll have to see though.  Training begins officially tomorrow.  The plan right now is to run 3-4 training sessions a week, with cross-training on off days.  Some days I'll be doubling up with a run in the morning and yoga or pilates at night, but I'm optimistic that this will be a good plan to start with.  I didn't run that much last month, but have been at it all this week so far.  To get ready for 13.1 miles I'm going to start the couch to 5k program from week 5 or 6 until I get my legs back and then begin the bridge to 10k program which lasts 9 weeks.  Once I've completed that, I'll work right into my half marathon training to build up that distance.  It's gonna mean a lot of long runs, but I think it will definitely be worth it.  Can't wait to start.