Whirlwind

My head is about to spin. The last two weeks have been CRAZEEEE and there is no end in sight. Work is killing me with deadlines and I've been working at night and weekends. Hopefully, I will get a break soon otherwise I'll need to schedule a mental health day ;)

Quick update:

• Found a marathon training plan I like and this was the first week.
• Kicked my own butt with squats and single leg lunges Wednesday and have been walking like I have a stick up my rear ever since.
• Between extra work hours and three school open houses (on separate evenings, of course), the bike rides were sacrificed.
• Great hill run this morning but thanks to my glutinous dinner last night, I was plagued with side stitches and nausea. Fun.
• So, so, so friggin happy it's Friday! I get to sleep in tomorrow! I get so excited about sleeping in that I don't even want to go to sleep, I just want to enjoy the feeling of laying in bed knowing that I won't see 4 a.m. the next day! It really is the little things in life..
• My feet hurt. All over. All the time. I haven't been wearing heels either. I'm worried that this could lead to an injury.
• Speaking of injury, I get my MRI results on Monday *fingers crossed*
• Wednesday run - 5 miles
• Friday run - 6.25 miles

Have a great weekend!

Fantastic Fifteen

Run: 15 miles

Yup, that's right... today's 15 miler was fan-tas-tic! We had great weather (well, as good as it can be for August in Florida). It was overcast with a slight drizzle and a cool breeze. There was pretty bad rain all over the area this morning but they seemed to be everywhere we weren't. It would either rain before or after we hit a spot so we really lucked out.

I could really use this type of service on our dark long runs!

The first 3 miles were another wild kingdom adventure. The gators were louder than usual, something made its presence known in the nearby water, there was a lot of rustling in the bushes by something larger than the usual armadillo or opossum and then the birds were having a squawking contest. I really do not enjoy those creepy miles.

Once inside the park we met up with friends and ran an out and back for 3 miles to accommodate Jen's training and them headed out again for the remaining miles. I felt really strong on this run. I didn't have to walk at all and our pace was almost 30 seconds faster than last week. The last mile and a half I was definitely starting to get achy but we stayed on pace and finished strong. Yay!

I'm in too much of a rush to think of a clever title... sorry.

Run: 4 miles @ 9:30-ish

Survived the hill run! Loved the change of scenery and looking forward to this new weekly run. Woohoo!

Still no MRI results. Time is of the essence people! Don't they realize I only have 239 days, 22 hours and 25 minutes until NOLA 70.3? Sheesh.

Narrowing down my marathon program options. I think I may have found a winner but I want to run it by my running partner before committing.

Also, getting new running shoes today! Now that I finally found the perfect pair of shoes I need to get another pair before the manufacturers "improve" or "update" them and ruin everything. Lucky enough, Fit2Run is offering $20 off for bringing in an old pair running shoes! Gotta love that :)

And one more thing...

I love triathlon/running because it is the ONLY thing in life that comes with a 100% guarantee that you will get what you give.

Think about it. You cannot say that with 100% certainly in anything else - not in team sports, relationships or career.

Now excuse me while I get back to my thankless job... :)

Are we there yet?

That's how I felt the ENTIRE 15 mile run Saturday.

That's also how I feel about this week... when is the weekend finally going to get here? I have been so busy at work that to say that I am "overwhlemed" would be an understatement. So obviously my blog has suffered. Here's the lowdown on the week so far...

• 15 mile Saturday run. Harder and slower than I expected. Not sure the FIRST program is ideal (or even healthy) for me. I'm a novice marathoner and a mediocre runner. Gathered a lot of other great marathon programs and I am going to sit down this weekend and find the right one for *me.* (see, David? I even blogged about it so now you know I'm actually listening to you this time)
• 1 hour trainer ride. Finally. I could tell Eleanor was pissed about being neglected. She made sure the saddle took her anger out on my girly parts.
• Watched 'Troy' while on the trainer. That movie was much better before 300 came out.
• New schedule eliminates Cardio Sculpt classes but I am still managing Body Flex on Wednesdays.
• MRI last week on the shoulder. Surprised to find out needles were involved. More surprised that they had to go directly into the shoulder joint. Not sure if anyone realized I was there because that area already hurt. That was the easy part, though, 45 minutes in the "casket" was torture for this fidgety claustrophobic. Results pending.
• School started this week. I officially have a 6th grader (MIDDLE SCHOOL!), 4th grader and Kindergartner. Needless to say, having my oldest go to middle school and my youngest go to Kindergarten made for an emotional week.
• New run route tomorrow - hills! I got invited to join some amazing runners on their weekly hill run. Fingers crossed I can at least keep them in sight :)

Hope everyone is having a great week. I'm looking forward to catching up on all my favorite blogs!

sick

ear, nose and throat. ugh.

no interval run, no Cardio Sculpt and donuts for dinner... not my best day.

Week #1 Marathon Training

Week #1
Run: 28.5
Bike: 0
ST: 3 hours


Now that I'm not that sore from the ST workouts, I will be able to incorporate more bike training. I'm happy with my week. My key training is obviously running and the runs were very good for the week.

Run: 15 miles
1-10.5 @ 10:05
10.5 - 15 @ 10:20

Saturday's long run was all over the place. The morning started with this:

4:56 a.m. and already 82 degrees.

Christy and I headed north to the park and saw a couple of lightning flashes but didn't think much of them because they were so far off in the distance. We could barely hear the thunder that's how far away they were. By our very scientific method of counting the seconds between lightning and thunder. we guessed the lightning was at least 24 miles away. We reached the park and got to our meeting spot at 6. It was still pitch black and that's when the lightning and thunder really started to be an issue. We knew we wouldn't be running the scheduled 10 miles in the park and our only hope was that the people we were meeting would be able to give us a ride back to our cars. We waited 10 minutes and decided it was time to literally make a run for it and hope to outrun the storm and get back to our cars (5 miles) without incident. The good news is that the temperature and humidity dropped significantly - it had to be a 10 degree difference. Had it not been for the lightning, the cooler temps and slight drizzle would've been perfect running conditions!

Just as we got out of the park and to the main road (putting our total miles at 6), our knight in shining armour housewife in a blue minivan came to our rescue. Our dear friend Jen, woke to the sound of the storm and came to the park specifically to rescue us. Good thing, too, because as we drove back to our cars the rain started to come down so hard we could barely see.


Typical to Florida, once back at our cars, the weather was fine. We ran an additional 4.5 miles staying close in case the weather took a turn for the worst. By that point, we were out of water and called it a day. I got home and finished the remaining 4.5 miles on the treadmill. Despite the crazy patchwork miles, I ended up with a solid 15 mile run.

Mid-Week Update

Tuesday
ST: 1 hour Cardio Sculpt
Run: 1.5 miles

I took the Cardio Sculpt class again last night. This class was a little more leg heavy than previous classes but I worked up a good sweat and did a lot of exercises I wouldn't do on my own. Speaking of sweat, I cannot get over how much I sweat. It never used to be this much... ever. I am literally dripping wet and I notice that none of the other women in the class are as nasty as me. Do we sweat more with age? Do our bodies produce more sweat glands (or do they grow) to accommodate our endurance activities? It's weird. It's gross, too, but I like it in a strange way. Kind of like a way to see how hard I worked.

Moving on from that disgusting little tangent, I finally have some Caden running to share! Sunday he ran 2 miles in 19 minutes on the treadmill. Very good progress but eventually he will need to learn to pace himself and not let the mill do all the work.

Last night after Cardio Sculpt, we went to the track for some interval training. I was very impressed with his performance but more impressed with his positive attitude. He stopped to walk about 20 feet into our warm up and as promised, I made him do 10 mountain climbers right there on the track. After that incident, however, he was good to go!

Caden's run
800 warm up
4 x 400 w/ 2 min RI
2:07:16
2:00:00
2:00:38
2:00:00

I set a goal for 2:15:00 intervals and he succeeded with flying colors. Pretty darn consistent, too, considering my watch wasn't showing pace (operator error). Thursday will be another run with longer intervals. Four weeks and counting until his first test day!

Wednesday

ST: 1 hour Body Flex
Run: 6 miles
2 miles easy
2 miles @ 8:34
2 miles easy

Not a hard run but my legs were definitely fatigued after last night's workouts. My biggest battle this morning was staying up after the alarm went off. I really wanted to crawl back into my warm bed but that would've just screwed up the rest of my training for the week. I'm glad I didn't give in, I feel much better starting my day with a run.

Update:

Body flex class tonight kicked my butt! Three words... lunging dead lifts. Ouch!

Day 1 of Marathon Training!

Run: 6 miles

2 miles easy

3 x 1600 @ 8:06 (.10 RI)

1 mile easy

Since I completed the first 4 weeks of the schedule in July, there were no surprises on today's run. I knew to expect a hard but doable workout. I was really tired, though. Just as my head hit the pillow last night a thunderstorm rolled in. Florida, more notably Tampa, is the lightning capital of North America. Our thunderstorms are severe and intense. The rapid and wild flashes of the lightning are like a strobe light but it's the thunder that will get your blood pumping. The crack of the thunder is as if God is taking a giant sledgehammer to the earth. It rattles the windows and doors and when the storm is right on top of you and there is no delay between lightning and thunder, it will rattle your teeth. I love thunderstorms and I love when it rains at night but I don't love it when I'm 30 minutes past my bedtime and I'm on a countdown until 4 a.m. Thanks to Mother Nature's little temper tantrum last night, I'm almost 2 hours light on sleep. Now I'm on a countdown until bedtime... only 4 more hours.

Week #4 recap

Last week of pre-training. It was a quick four weeks and I followed all but one of the scheduled runs. I'm happy with where I am going into marathon training and I'm feeling confident about getting to 26.2 in 17 weeks.

Week 4

Run: 27 miles

Strength training: 2 classes and 1 circuit day

Bike: 0 (ugh)

Happy about the increased strength training but I've got to get on my bike!

JULY GOALS:
-3 runs per week - DONE!
-2 bike rides per week (1 Spinerval, 1 longer ride at a steady pace) - NOPE :(
-one 15 mile run - DONE!

AUGUST GOALS:

-3 runs per week

-2 bike rides per week

-2 strength training sessions per week