It’s Race Month!!

Its Finally February which means its Race Month!!  It is hard to believe my Disney Princess Half is less than 3 weeks away.  Since I signed up in July it was one of those races I felt like what never actually going to happen.

Updates since my last blog post.  My 11 mile run happened on Monday January 19^th.  I only had to work half a day so I decided to do it that afternoon since the weather was in the high 50’s.  It started out kind of rough and overall I ran it slower than I would have likes at an average pace around 12’20.  But most importantly I got it done.  The week following was fairly stressful for me at work and since I had done two weeks of long runs plus 5-6 days of working out I kind of burnt myself out.  Didn’t do much in terms of cross training that week.  This prior week I got back on track with my maintenance runs and cross training.

Saturday I planned to do my last long run the 13.1.  Since I’m going to Las Vegas this weekend I needed to do my last long run prior to that trip.  Weather wasn’t looking overly promising in terms to temperature.  I woke up around 8:30 went and had breakfast and started running a little before 10am.  I want to say it was about 34 degrees out with a pretty substantial breeze which was only made worse since I run on the Tennessee River.  I think since it was so cold my mental attitude was run faster to stay warm and be done sooner.  For the first 7 miles it was really really cold.  I stopped around mile 5 to use the bathroom and my legs were almost numb.  Once I turned around at the halfway point it did start to get a bit warmer thankfully.  My legs felt pretty strong up until my stretch miles of 12-13.  I was running under a 10 minute mile while doing my 3/1 intervals so I maintained a very steady pace between 11-1125 for the entire run.  Once I hit two hours and was a 10.60 total miles I thought to myself I can break 2:30.  That had been a goal I’d set for this half marathon and training.  So while the last two miles were very painful on my legs I powered through to keep my pace and managed to finish 13.1 in 2:29.  I was exhausted but so excited that I had actually done it.

I don’t honestly know if I’ll be able to break 2:30 in the Disney race just due to congestion and character stops but we will see.  I know I can physically do it so that in itself is an accomplishment.  Considering how much training I missed in late November/December I didn’t really expect myself to run that fast for that long. Now one thing I can say is I am very sore and have been since the run was over.

So this week I will do my maintenance runs and some cross training before I leave for Vegas on Friday.  I return late on Monday night so next week I will pick up my workout again on Tuesday.  Saturday (valentines day) I will most likely try and do a 6-8 mile run and then after that just a few maintenance runs.

I’m getting excited the race is so close and that most of my training is now behind me.  I’m planning to take at least a month off before signing up for any other half marathon programs just to give myself a chance to recover fro 7 months of training for 2.

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyways??

It’s a true gloomy week in January.  It can be hard to stay motivated with this cold, dreary month.  I’m doing everything I can to stay on track.  Successfully completing my half marathon next month and meeting my goals is at the top of my priority list.

View From my Sunday 9 Miler Run

The remainder of my workout week went well.  On Thursday I did a 3 mile run and finally felt like my cardio was getting back to where it needed to be.  Friday I worked out with my trainer.  I had planned to get up and go to a body pump class on Saturday morning but really wasn’t feeling all that great so decided to take the day off.  Definitely was a good decision in preparation for my long run.  I carb loaded with some mellow mushroom pizza (yum) on Saturday and got myself to bed early.

My plan was to wait until it warmed up into the upper 40’s on Sunday to run.  Well as the morning went on it wasn’t looking like the upper 40’s were going to come at all.  So I decided to just suck it up and go out in the 37 degrees and do my run.  Once I got started I didn’t feel terribly cold or anything.  Though when I stopped at mile 3 for a bathroom break my legs were freezing.  I kept my pace controlled just over a 12 minute mile.  Since it had been so long since I’d done anything more than about 3 I didn’t want to kill myself on this run.    I can confidently run much faster than I did but when I hit 36 min at my 5k just took it in stride to save my energy for the end.  It definitely worked out for the best as when I finished my entire 9 miles I really felt like I could run more if I had to.

I’m feeling much better now that I’ve done a significant long run as my 7 miler was almost a month ago!  Everything I did workout wise and eating this past week drastically helped me to run stronger, more consistently and hurt a little bit less!

So far this week I did a 30 minute slow recovery treadmill run on Monday which was not the most pleasant run due to my legs being tired.  I also went to Zumba yesterday and my legs were SCREAMING last night!  Below is the rest of the week’s workouts.

Wednesday: Training Session

Thursday: 3-4 Mile Run

Friday: Training Session

Saturday: 11 Mile Run

Right now Saturday is looking to be sunny and 55 degrees but who really knows what it will actually be!

So things are definitely getting done and I’m keeping it going!

Half Marathon Training: Cold Weather Running

So if I didn’t know any better I’d say it was beginning of January outside.  It is currently 45 outside with a high of 50 today and low of 28 degrees.  It was around 16 degrees this morning.  Winter coming early couldn’t be worse for my running.

Last week I slacked off quite a bit with my working out.  I think it was a combination of still being tired from the race, not wanting to run, social things seemed for fun etc etc.  I went to a Zumba class on Monday, ran 3 miles on Thursday and worked out with my trainer on Saturday.  I ate and drank horridly all weekend so by the time Monday rolled around I was looking forward to getting back on track..until the arctic blast hit.

Monday evening I took a Zumba class and last night I needed to run 5 miles.  I did such inside since it was close to 30 degrees when I left work around 6.  It was miserable.  I am trying to push myself to run this next half faster but this might not be the time to try to break any of my own records.  I did 5 miles in 55:46 so at an 11:09 minute pace without any intervals.  I decided not doing intervals for anything under 5 miles was a good idea for training..yeah that will probably be changing.  Not only was I exhausted by the end but my left foot was hurting bad.  I probably pushed it too much considering I hadn’t run more than 3 miles since the race.

I still need to do a 7 mile run and a 4 mile run this week.  I am traveling to Tuscaloosa AL this weekend for the Bama homecoming game which is complicating my running plans all around.  I packed clothing to run outside after work but my experience running in the cold is minimal (cold being low 40’s/high 30’s).  Ideally I’d like to get the 7 miler done tonight but realistically I may not be able to stand the cold.  I’m going to give it a try and hope I can get at least 4 done.  If I still haven’t done 7 after tonight my plan is to leave work early on Friday and knock it out before I get on the road.  If I do get 7 done I might still leave work early to do 4 or just do it Saturday morning pre-game festivities.  45ish minutes on Sat morning seems more doable than 1:20ish.

So we shall see.  I never expected when I signed up for a February Half Marathon I’d be dealing with 30 degree temperatures in November!  Just a part of the fun I guess!

Half Marathon Race Recap: I did It!!!

I’ve officially completed my first Half Marathon as of Saturday evening!  It is still hard to believe its actually over and I finished it!

So Saturday didn’t go at all as I had planned.  I was woken up around 4:30am to a strange noise coming from the wall in between my two bedrooms.  At first I thought it was the heat having issues so I turned it off and went back to sleep.  Around 5:30am I was woken up again by a similar sound.  I then called my apartment’s maintenance department to let them know I thought something was wrong with my heat or electrical system.  As I was walking down my stairs I suddenly saw something dash across the floor from the closet with the heating system in it to my bathroom.  My first thought was oh my god that was a mouse.  Since it was still dark I didn’t get a super close look but I was pretty positive it was.  I just kind of sat on my stairs trying to get my dog to go into the bathroom to see if it was in there.  Then about 5 minutes later I saw it come out from under my oven and it was confirmed as a mouse.  I freaked out grabbed my dog and left the apartment.

So its about 7:30am and I’m out getting rat poison…I ended up stopping at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a breakfast sandwich since at this point it was clear I wasn’t eating the breakfast foods I had purchased the evening before.  So after a few errands and dropping my dog off at the kennel I placed the mouse traps around my apartment, grabbed my things for the race (which were thankfully 90% packed up) and left my apartment.  I had a few hours to kill so I ended up getting this delicious Pineapple Wheatgrass juice from this Juice/Smoothie place near me when helped me to sustain some energy.

Around 12pm we headed down to Roswell Georgia for the race.  It was little less than a 2 hour drive so nothing too bad.  We checked into the hotel & then headed to Olive Garden for a carb loading lunch.  By the time we got back to the hotel it was basically time to get ready for the race and head out to the course.

We took advantage of shuttle parking about 5 minutes away from the race course as the race information stated parking at the actual race start could already be full by 3:30pm.  So since we weren’t planning to arrive until 4:30ish the shuttle made the most sense for us.  It was super easy and very fast which was great.  Around 5:15 we got lined up for the race.  We positioned ourselves between the 2:30 & 2:45 pace runners.

The race began promply at 5:30 with all 800 runners starting at the same time.  This obviously caused its fair share of congestion especially when we got onto the narrow trail part of the course.  I didn’t trail train at all for this race and did not enjoy running in a narrow space where it is so easy to trip.  It was also starting to get darker so I had to pay very close attention to where I was stepping.  Running intervals were almost impossible to do with this many people in a small space so we stuck to running (slower than our normal pace) for majority of the first three miles on the trail.  Finally around 3.5 we were back on a paved sidewalk which led onto the road where majority of the race took place.  Basically we ran 4-6 turned left for 7 then turned back around into mile 8 then turned right for 9-10 then turned around again going the same way as mile 5 then we turned around one last time for 11-13.  So at any given time there were 3 different parts of the race happening in different directions.  The hardest part was watching people going into miles 11-12 when we were still on 9-10..

I felt pretty good majority of the race.  Around mile 7 I could tell it was getting colder and my feet were aching pretty badly.  Mile 10 felt like it went on forever since we were running down to come back so we could see how much further we had left to run.  Once I passed the 11 mile marker and turned around I was beyond relieved.  However as we ran it continued to get colder and colder so running in the cold was a challenge.  A lot more walking that I would have planned happend miles 11-13 but we still managed to keep a decent pace.

I finished the race in 2:39:55..so technically I finished under 2:40!  That was a 12:12 pace.  In the beginning we were slowed down due to the trail and then the added walking at the end added to that as well.  In the middle of the race we were able to make up some time which helped us finish under 2:45.  Considering this was the first time I had run 13 I didn’t have a set time I wanted to finish in but was aiming for under 2:50 which I felt was very achievable.  The most challenging thing for me was seeing how many people finished and ran faster than I did.  I finished 636 overall out of 780 racers but only 53 out of 63 in the age division of 25-29.  Not too many 20 year olds in this race so all the ones who came out were speedy!

So now my goal is to get my time down now that i’ve completed a Half Marathon.  I am excited for the Disney Princess Half Marathon but know this isn’t exactly a race where people PR.  So I may be looking into a smaller Half Marathon maybe in March that I could really work to run a 2:30 or less. So what am I going to do to start working on my speed?

Well keep running for starters.  I’m going right into training for The Disney Princess Half which has me running 3 days per week.  As I said in my previous post I’ll be doing 5 miles on Tuesday, 4 Miles on Thursdays and long runs on Saturdays.  The challenge will be increasing speed on the treadmill.  I HATE treadmill running and almost always run slower.  The more I can run outside the better but obviously with winter coming that may be a task.  I’m also adding more cross training in.  I don’t feel like running is enough for me to reach my optimal fitness goals.  My training plan includes a Monday Zumba Class & a Wednesday workout with my trainer.  I’d also like to incorporate one more day of weight training.  This may be a class my gym offers on Fridays which is 20 min step, 20 min stregth, 10 min balance & 10 min abs when I can make it to that.  I also have Les Mills Body Pump at home that has different DVD’s of classes ranging from 30-60 minutes.  Only problem is I only have two sets of weights that came with it and I need a few smaller weights to add onto the bar when it feels too light.  So should probably purchase those.  If I can keep my legs and core strong with 2-3 days of strength/cross training I believe it is going to help my running tremendously.

I can’t even believe how sore I am from Zumba last night.  In my mind I always think Zumba is pure cardio so why would I keep doing that running 3x per week?  But it defintely is a total body cardio/strength training workout.  My calf muscles haven’t been this sore in a while.  Also my arms are a little sore this morning as well.  Its a different type of workout that is working my muscles different…plus it is super fun!

Today I am easing back into running with a 3 mile run.  I’m not really concentrating on my pace time or anything this week as my body is still recovering from the race/Zumba!  I’m just going to get out and get the muscle memory going.  Its a good week to ease back into my running.

Oh and I forgot to mention my other upcoming races!  I signed up for a Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving morning in Johns Creek Georgia.  They had a 5k, 10k, 15k and Half to choose between.  My longer run that week is 4-5 miles so I decided a 10k would be a good distance.  This will be the first race I run by myself so that should be interesting!  I’ve also got my eye on the Hot Chocolate 15k at the end of January in Atlanta.  It is about a month before Disney and 10 miles is a good practice distance.

So my running journey is continuing on with new goals and challenges ahead.  I’m beyond relieved to have one half marathon under my belt with another one in the works along with some other races and a good cross training schedule.  I’ll be continuing to blog as i begin my training for the next few races as I’m sure the holidays and cold weather will throw an entire new set of challenges at me.  But

Half Marathon Training: It’s Race Week!

Happy Monday!  So it is race week!  Only 6 days until my Area 13.1 Half Marathon.  For so long it seemed so far away and suddenly it’s here.  I’m feeling good overall.  A bit nervous but trying to stay as positive as I possibly can.  I’ve done everything I can do to prepare running wise and followed the training plan which wasn’t easy with 4-5 days of running per week.

Last week I ran 5 miles on Monday evening which wasn’t too bad of a run.  I had planned to do my 8 mile run on Wednesday evening but due to a very intense weight training session on Tuesday I was super sore and my body was not feeling more than about a 5k.  With Halloween and a cold front moving in over the weekend I knew an 8 miler would be a challenge to fit in. Saturday I was tired and the weather was in the low 40’s so I passed on running then.  Yesterday it warmed up a bit more by mid day into the 50’s so I started my run around 1pm.  I am definitely not used to running in the colder weather and with wind.  It impacted my breathing quite a bit.  Around mile 3 I developed some pain in my lower abdomen, felt like a side stitch but different.  I’ve had it happen once or twice before.  I’m starting to wonder if its the gummies I’ve been using.  May try to buy a different kind because would rather not have that happen on race day.  I ran fairly slow the first 6 miles (12+ min pace).  My body was tired and trying to adjust to the colder conditions took some getting used to.  I settled into my normal pace around 6 and ran 6-8 at a (10:30 ish pace) feeling much better.  Total time was 1:35:25.

So this week I only have about 5 miles to run.  I plan to do a 5k tomorrow and then 2 miles on Thursday.  I am going to weight train on Wednesday.  Everyday I plan to stretch, foam roam and do my footbaths.  I’m going to keep myself extra hydrated, eat well and attempt to get more sleep than I normally do.

I’m very happy to be at this point.  I’m so ready to be able to conquer my first half marathon and cross that finish line.  It has been a long and difficult road to get to this point so I’m trying to keep positive and mentally remind myself I am ready for this.

As excited as I am to do The Disney Princess Half I do wish I had a little more time before jumping right back into training.  I’m giving myself a “recovery” week with 2 5k runs and a 4 miler for my long run. But after that I’ll jump back in to Tuesday 5 milers, Thursday 3 milers and Saturday Long runs.  That is my own decision maintenance run wise.  The beginner/intermediate plans only call for either 2 30 min runs or 2 45 minute runs.  I think its important to have a least 1 5-6 mile run per week to maintain the mileage.  I like having the 5k time to work on speed.  I’ll cross train on Monday’s and Wednesdays.  I’ll see how that works if I need to up mileage I will but considering majority of my maintenance Tuesday/Thursday runs are going to be on a treadmill I’m not really wanting to do more than that.

The holiday weeks are going to be the worst.  The upside is I’ve tweaked the plan so I don’t have long runs the week of Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years (New Years week I’ll also be moving so a long run is the last thing I need) but will still have 3 days of running.

More than likely I’m going to take a break from Half’s after Disney Princess until Wine & Diner in November.  I kind of can’t imagine going into another training program right after I return from Disney but you never know.  The most challenging thing will be to maintain what i’ve built up to if I do take a 5 month break from Half Marathon training.  But if I continue running at least 2-3 days per week with an occasional long run (more than 8 miles) I think that will keep me in good shape.  I just miss all the cross training I used to do and want to incorporate that back into the mix a bit more.  That will also help me work on getting faster and strong so concentrating on that during the “off season” might be just what I need.

So I have a lot to think about.  I do think its a miracle I don’t absolutely hate running at this point.  When I think about the fact I couldn’t even run for more than a minute at a time the beginning of this year it does put all the hard work into perspective.  I’ve learned a lot and know this is only the beginning of my journey with running and continuing to lead an active lifestyle.  So positive affirmations and lots of stretching, good foods and rest await me this week.

Half Marathon Training: 11 Miler Recap & 12 Miler Week!

Already Wednesday..where does the week go!

So last Friday was the BIG 11 MILER!!  I was fully prepared going into my run with new socks, extra bandaids and KT tape for my feet, gummies, powerade and a newly updated running playlist!

I made sure to eat continuously throughout the day and drink a lot of water.  That was one mistake I had made going into my 10 miler that I ended up regretting.

It was around 5:45 when we started running.  Legs were feeling good and so was my cardio. The run/walk method seemed to be off to a good start also.  Basically we were running for 3 minutes and walking for 1 minute.  I believe it was around mile 5 when I started getting some bad cramping in my lower abdomen.  Believe it was some good old PMS symptoms probably aggrevated by the running.  That continued well into mile 7.  I kept pushing through as I figured eventually it would go away as it wasn’t a side stitch where I needed to stretch it out.  Once that had passed I felt SO MUCH BETTER.  Getting past mile 8 into my “stretch” miles, I felt really good.  Didn’t feel too tired and my legs were still feeling strong.  Until I got into the last mile it wasn’t bad at all and even then my legs were just getting a bit tired.  Compared to finishing the 10 miler I felt 200x better. We did the 11 miles in 2:13:33 so on a 12:08 pace which I was very happy with.

This was a big boost of confidence since I had worked so hard all week to take care of myself so I could have a good long run.  And it paid off!  I didn’t do any other running over the weekend but did go and spectate the Chattanooga Ironman Competition on Sunday which ended up being a lot of walking and standing which my back didn’t enjoy too terribly much.

So now onto this week.  Since I was still a week behind in the training plan and wanting to give myself enough time to taper 3 week before the race, I decided to jump ahead to the 12 miler week.  Monday I really wasn’t feeling great.  I was tired, PMSing and just not in the mood to do more than 3 miles…well so I thought.  My legs were tight for the first 1.5 miles and I ran mile 2 WAY too fast (like under 10 minutes fast).  So this left me finishing what was supposed to be 3 miles in 35 to 3 miles in 32.  My legs were feeling good so I decided I’d just keep going and run another mile.  Then another mile led to 2 more miles and I ended up completing my 10k for the week. Not only did I complete it but I KILLED IT!  I completed it in 1:04:58 which is a 10:47 pace!  I’ve never consistently run that fast for that long before.  For comparison my first 10k race in June took m 1:13 to run. Now I don’t think this will be a normal “new” pace for me to run but it felt good coming off a long run having a very successful run.

Tuesday I decided to do my 35 minute run.  I again wasn’t feeling overly great going into this run but knew all I needed to power out was an easy 3 miler.  Things weren’t flowing quite as well as they were on Monday but I was able to maintain some speed in mile 2 which was good.  Mile 3 was definitely slower which was okay.  My mapmyrun stopped working around 1.45 and I didn’t realize this until i was into 2.10 miles.  So I reset it and just ran back to my car with that obviously being my starting place.  I’m not exactly sure what I did because the time was all messed up.  When I reset the last mile it wasn’t recording properly and told me I ran 0.07 at a 152:22 minute pace…yeah so just deleted that and recorded a 33:19 total and a pace around 11:06..may have actually been a little more or a little less I’m really not sure since I didn’t check to see what time I actually started.

Today is cross training so working out with my trainer and no running (my legs appreciate it).  Tomorrow the plan only has a 20 minute run so I’ll probably do 2 miles total.  Seems like nothing in comparison to what I have been doing!  Depending on the weather I’d like to do the 12 miler on Friday but will most likely have to wait until Saturday morning.  There is a set of storms coming through that is supposed to cool things off drastically (its 85 right now…) which will make for a nice morning run on Saturday.

Overall feeling good about where I am in the training plan being a little less than a month out from the half marathon.  So just have to keep giving it my all for the final push this month.

Half Marathon Training Day 5: 10k went ok!

Well I intended to write this post on Friday but since its no Monday obviously I forgot! So Friday was the day of my 6 mile long run.  I woke up very early (like earlier than I get up for work) and drove to the trail in Roswell which was about 30 minutes from my parents house. Weather was really nice it was still cool out since it was early and foggy. I was getting ready to start and my map my run decided it didnt want to track. I played around with it for a good 10 minutes then decided to just give it up and run for like an hour and 20 minutes. The course did have mile markers but they were all over the place and didnt match up with what I was running.

Course overall was super easy and enjoyable to run. I never felt too winded, my feet didnt get too sore and I didnt get a side stitch. It gave me a good confidence going into further training for the half marathon in November.

This week is going to be a challenge for running. Today I was at work until 7 and have to be back early tomorrow. Late morning I have to drive down to Atlanta for a meeting until Wednesday at noon. So tomorrow is also out for running. My plan is to run at my parents house on Wednesday when I go to pick up my dog. Thursday I have a kickball game at 7pm so getting a run in before is going to be tough. Im planning to do another 6 mile run on either Friday evening or Saturday morning I havent decided yet. So doing what I can this busy week!!

Happy monday is over 🙂