Ma'am, Yes, Ma'am!

Good morning Boot Camp! Three week session, Monday through Thursday, class begins precisely at 0600 hours and ends at 0700 hours.

WEEK 1, DAY 1 - DONE

Easy intro to the class.

PT Test:

Push ups - 10

Sit ups - 33

Practice Run:
1.21 miles

9:14 pace

11:13 time

WEEK 1, DAY 2 - DONE
Today was another fairly light workout although it was certainly not easy. Squat thrusts, side straddle hops (jumping jacks), planks, scissors and high-kneed hops.

PT Test:

1 mile run - 8:06!!!

My goal was 9:00 so I was thrilled with this time. Who knew?! It wasn't intentional, however. At 1/4 mile, I thought my watch read 9:23 so I sped up only to realize it said 8:23! I figured since I could see the finish I may as well go all out. I'm very happy with this time and I'm hoping to drop the next run to 7:50.

WEEK 1, DAY 3 - DONE

Wowza! This was a great workout!
3 rounds of 4 stations, 2 minutes at each station.

Round 1:

#1 - jumping rope

#2 - agility ladder

#3 - side squats off the risers

#4 - push ups

Round 2:

#1 - jumping rope

#2 - agility ladder

#3 - hopping side squats off the risers

#4 - crunches

Round 3:

#1 - jumping rope

#2 - agility ladder

#3 - lunges off the risers

#4 - sets of 10 push ups/10 crunches

Two minutes of jumping rope is a lot harder than it sounds but I was just thankful that I didn't strangle myself or my team mates in the process. The agility ladder actually felt like a break compared to the exercises on the risers. It was very hard but I know this is the kind of workout that is going help me build the proper foundation in order to cross the finish line at the Orlando 70.3 next year.

WEEK 1, DAY 4 - DONE

I thought today would be a little easier after yesterday's workout but I definitely thought wrong. We started the class with squats, squat holds, squat shuffles across the room, more squat holds until I felt like fire was going to start shooting from my quads. Next we moved onto push ups, wide push ups, tricep push ups and eagle push ups. I don't like push ups.

Our "Thursday Challenge" was to form a circle and throw a 40 pound medicine ball to each other. Okay, maybe 40 is a bit of an exaggeration... most likely it was 10 but have you ever tried to catch a 10 pound ball? It may as well be 40. It also turned into to a meet and greet and we had to introduce ourselves, state our goals for the class and share our greatest physical challenge - this by the way, is why I avoid group activities. I survived the embarrassment of talking about myself and was thankful to head outside for a run.

Run:

1.43 miles

8:42 pace

12:41 time

My legs were very fatigued and the first 10 steps were awkward at best. Fortunately, it wasn't too long before my legs remembered what to do. It was never easy and I pushed really hard.

My purpose for coming to boot camp is to be better, faster, stronger and I won't get that just by going through the motions. Make it count.

GOALS:

Our next PT Test in two weeks
Push Ups - 15

Sit Ups - 40

1 Mile Run - 7:50

Pre/Post Thanksgiving Runs

Christy and I met up early for an easy run to start our Thanksgiving Day festivities. It was also our first run since the half marathon. It was nothing extraordinary just a nice easy run - 3.69 miles

Saturday we headed to Starkey Park for a bigger run in hopes of working off some of those Turkey day calories. It was a very brisk 40 degrees which is great running weather... once you get warmed up.

8 miles @ 9:41 average pace - I was a disappointed with this average but realized that our first warm up mile really slowed our overall pace. It was hard to loosen up and get warm in such cool temps but the remaining miles were very consistent and much quicker than any of my recent runs - faster pace by almost 30 seconds!

1-10:17

2-9:46

3-9:31

4-9:30

5-9:28

6-9:47

7-9:40

8-9:27

Women's Running Half Marathon

I am pleased to announce that I have completed my first Half Marathon! And even more pleased to announce that I would actually do it again ;)

RACE: A+ Incredibly organized, awesome goodie bag that included pink Crocs, very cool medals and great post-race treats. I am so happy with this event and I would definitely recommend it. There were more than enough water stops, two fueling stations and a tremendous turnout of excited, supportive and funny spectators - including our very own Strider President and cheerleader/photographer extraordinaire, David.

COURSE: I found the course to be very beautiful but a little more challenging than I expected. There was a good portion of the course that was old, uneven brick so we opted to run on the sidewalk - I was definitely trying to find the lesser of two evils. Despite that, the first 8 miles went by quickly and easily. My struggle began on mile 9 which was a slight incline (probably a 3% on a treadmill) the entire way - clear evidence that I'm a spoiled, sea-level Florida runner. This was also about the time that my very old shoes (no, I still have not been able to find new shoes!) began to feel like they were filled with hot coals. Mile 10 the sun came out but shortly after we were lucky enough to run inside Tropicana Field on the outfield. It was a very cool experience metaphorically and thanks to the a/c, literally as well. The last two miles were miserable for me and even in the homestretch I found myself feeling exhausted and defeated. Thanks goodness for Christy and her constant encouragement.

RECAP: I fueled at miles 4, 8 and 10 which worked very well. Adjusting and accelerating my training program did not. This is a BIG issue for my training in general and I plan to follow directions better while training for next season. I'm so glad that I participated in this race and I look forward to taking the lessons I've learned from this experience and improving in my next Half Marathon.

Treadmilling

This morning when my 4 year old daughter saw me sweaty and gross in gym clothes she asked if I had been "treadmilling?" Hilarious, right? Yup, I'm totally stealing that. Anyway, I had a good time treadmilling this morning at the Y. Pretty easy 5 miles.

Run: 5 miles

1 mile warm up @ 10:00

3 miles @ 9:13

1 mile cool down @ 10:00

Last ditch effort

This morning was my final long run before next weekend's Women's Half Marathon. I unexpectedly had to go out of town this week so my training was pretty much non-existent. I squeezed in a quick 3 miles after my flight arrived in PA on Tuesday but that was it and I was very nervous about today's run. Turns out, I was nervous for no reason! Christy, Dana and I met the Strider's for our usual Saturday run. The weather was perfect, the sun came up quickly and it was a solid run. I think we stopped for 5 water breaks and fueled at miles 4 and 7-ish. I felt great until the last mile and then the aches started to set in. I think I've found the right shoes to get so hopefully come race day my feet will hold up a little better.

I am most impressed with our pace - we shaved 5:47 off of last week's 12 miler and we weren't even trying to! I wanted to run at an easy 10:30 pace for two reasons:

1. I increased my mileage by more than the suggested 10% and I was concerned about injuries.

2. I wanted to keep it easy to ensure I could complete the mileage.

Now that I have some mileage under my belt, I can think about increasing the pace for Gasparilla.

Dear Shoe Companies,

Stop "updating" your shoes! You advertised them as great shoes last year so what was there to change?!

The Asics from my previous post were a bust. I anxiously awaited their arrival anticipating a cushioned, foot friendly run in my future but I was met with a huge disappointment. Although they are the same brand, same style and named Gel Kayano 15's instead of 14's, they were a completely different shoe. They looked and fit totally different. Boo. So my shoe quest continues...

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12... TWELVE! Muah-ah-ah

All about the numbers:

12 miles

2 hours

8 minutes

1511 calories

5 water stops

2 Gu's (which is 2 too many IMO)

1 great friend...

equals 1 triumphant run!

I'm thrilled to have 12 miles under my belt and happy to report that it was actually a pretty good run. The first six miles were easy, the next four miles were a little tough and the last two miles were miserable. I never felt like it was a cardio challenge and thankfully my legs felt relatively strong during the run, it was my shoes that did me in. I've been trying for a couple weeks to find a new pair but it's been very frustrating. I found out that my favorite Brooks Adrenaline's have too much support for my over pronation and the next shoe in line was the Brooks Infinity but the tow box was an odd fit and I was plagued with blisters. I ended up in a pair of Asic Gel Kayano 14's that I bought last year and never really wore that much. They weren't my favorite shoes then but they've served me well this season and pretty much wore them into the ground. After this 12 miler, I decided I HAD to get a fresh new pair but the best online store in the universe, Zappos, didn't have them in my size. I upgraded to the Gel Kayano 15's though, so hopefully my weary little feet will be pleased.

Hypothesis confirmed!

I have been adamant that my treadmill at home is much harder than any of the mills at the Y or running outside. I don't notice that much of a difference in speed but the elevation feels like a 2.5 or 3% incline. Which is a good thing in the grand scheme of things but not while I'm struggling through this half marathon program (more on this later). So this week, I put my theory to the test. Tuesday morning I attempted 12 x 400 with 90 second recovery at 9:22 on my mill. I only managed 6 intervals and had to walk most of the recoveries. It was brutal. My lungs were on fire, my legs were trembling and my brain was throbbing. Today I headed to the Y for a 5 x 800 @ 9:13 and viola - no issues. It felt exactly like what an interval run is supposed to feel like: challenging but possible. Interval 4 was tough and 5 was VERY tough but I completed it. So I was able to run longer, faster intervals on the Y mill without feeling like I was going to be sick and/or pass out.

Run - 5 miles

1 mile warmup

5 x 800 @ 9:13 with 400 recovery

10 minute cool down

It was nice to actually follow the schedule and complete the task at hand because those runs have been few and far between lately. Now I admit, starting the program in the middle and skipping every other week due to time constraints was probably not my smartest idea and I'm definitely paying for it. I now realize that I wasn't even close to being physically prepared to jump into the middle of the program. Additionally, trying and failing to do these advanced workouts has left me feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. So even though I'm just a few weeks from the half, I have decided to revaluate my training. I started over at week 1, day 1. I know that I can finish the half today if I had to and I don't have a PR to worry about so any benefit I get out of the remaining interval and tempo runs will be a bonus.