2 down

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get this run in today.  I went to bed early last night with the intention of getting up and running this morning, but that didn't happen.  Then I got home and family stuff took precidence and before I knew it, it was after 9pm.  The ice cream I had at 8:30 didn't help my run at all either.  I haven't been drinking enough water lately and I could definitely tell.  My lungs were almost burning right after I started.  Gonna have to make some changes so I can get through a run and love how all of me feels.

Kiss me I'm Irish 8k

Well, all in all it was a fun race.  I wasn't completely pleased with my pace/time, but considering the herd in front of me, I should just be happy.  When I first started running I read everything I could get my hands on for new runners, from fueling before a race, stretching and road etiquette.  I don't think that other people have done the same thing though.  I heard specifically over the PA before the race, the director telling the participants that they slower traffic should stay to the right, which falls directly in line with road etiquette.  However, no one paid any attention to those instructions.  I waited for a few minutes to go to the start line to avoid the herd that was bunched up in front, and then had to pick my way through some of the most oblivious, prideful people in the Valley.  For 6k I had to dodge and weave the slower traffic that felt walking 4 people wide and chit-chatting was proper road/race etiquette.  I'm fairly competitive but this wasn't about passing people.  This was about a bunch of rude people preventing me from maintaining training pace, not to speak of race pace. 

The highlight of my day was having Keith there to support me.  It meant a lot that he came out to be with me, even though it meant a long drive and just hanging out for almost an hour waiting for me to finish.  He got some good pictures and was a great help.

Skirt Chaser 5k

I was not sure if I was going to run this or not because I've been down with a cold all week.  I had been off the week before due to a newly diagnosed Iron deficiency so going into this race I had only logged 4 miles instead of my normal 15/week.  I decided to go for it anyway because I was starting to feel a little bit better though. Well, it didn't go as well as I'd hoped.  I didn't fuel or hydrate properly before the race and got myself a little bit dehydrated waiting out at the park in the noon day heat without even a water bottle.  I didn't eat anything either which is a huge no-no, just had a muscle milk as I was leaving work.  I won't bore you with too many of the details, but needless to say I learned a lot about how to prepare for a race, especially one in the middle of an 80 degree day.

Merry Christmas!

It was such a nice morning for my 4 mile run! Marissa gave me a Virginia is for Runners technical tee so I wore that with a running skirt since it was only 50* out.  Had a bit of a head wind for about half of it was amazingly was able to still maintain a 10 minute mile pace.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my time at the end.  Gonna take the kiddo hiking after breakfast and presents, so pictures to come later.  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  Happy running!

Personal Best

Okay, I know that habitual training will eventually make me faster, but I don't think it dawned on me that I would ever PR in a training run.  Today was my second run with the new training plan and I just ran a 32:32 5k time.  This is of course slow by normal standards, but I ran my last 5k in 32:46 which was also a PR for me.  I think part of my problem was a mental block.  For some reason I could never run an entire training run, then my coach told me I had to, and since then I haven't stopped once.  We'll see how Saturday goes since that is a 4 mile run, but I'm happy with where I'm at at the moment.  That isn't to say that I won't want more soon though.  I always want more.

I just realized....

I just realized how much I need to stretch after my runs.  Over the last months, my hamstrings have been getting tighter and tighter, to the point where I could feel them tightening up more on my last run.  Now, I have no one to blame but myself since I was too lazy to stretch well after a run, but we're changing that.  The new goal is to get up early enough to fit my run in, followed by 20 minutes of Yoga.  I did the Yoga this morning even though I had no run scheduled, and found out just how much flexibility I've lost over the last year.  Not that I was that flexible before but.....  I have a long way to go.

The Plan

Okay.  I met with the new Running coach from Peak Training tonight to go over my race goals and to see the game plan.  In short, I don't eat enough to fuel my runs and have been overtraining.  Not really what I expected to here I think.  I now have the new training plan and will be receiving my new meal plan by email.  I will be logging my runs as well as my water and food intake to report back to my coach.  I also have core training that I have to do everyday.  I am committed to doing what I need to do to get ready for this Half Marathon.  I think that it's going to be hard for me since it will require actual preparation as far as meals go, but it's necessary.  I'm looking forward to my first training run under the new plan.  Happy running.