I'm too nice sometimes...

So I have this new running partner. I see a whole lot of potential in her, especially seeing that she's bumped up her miles comfortably since we've started running together. Problem is, she's rotating out in December. Son of a $&(&#$! Typical. I always meet a fabulous person to lose them shortly after.

Anyway, she's a total runner and doesn't even know it. She even pushes a super cute little girl in a double jogger and can hang at a good pace. So, today we did a 9 miler and she's on the edge of signing up to do the Koko Half Marathon. The one I'm looking to kick some major PR ass in. She's worried that she wouldn't be able to hang, but I KNOW she can and that's where I'm near throwing my goal out the window. I am tempted to tell her that I'll run with her instead of trying to achieve a new PB. DAMN MY KIND HEART!

Torn.

Lonely Road

 

I need a running partner. Long runs are so lonely and it definitely takes some mental fortitude not to walk back to the car and go home. Especially when the heat can be so defeating.

Bitch o' the day. That's all.

Week 7

Just finished the 7th week and am over half way through Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Training Program. Short and long runs are getting longer, more 400Ms, and time added on to tempo runs.

I'm feeling confident that I will finish the Koko Half Marathon feeling pretty good, and quite possibly a few minutes better than my PB. I'm finally not dreading running itself. I get nervous about the challenge of running faster and harder, but I'm focused now while I'm running on those two things rather than how awful I'm feeling for majority of the run.

I can't wait to see what I can do at the end of the program. There are so many things going on in 2013 that having a solid running base and cardio fitness will help immensely. Marathons, triathlons, soccer tournaments, oh my!

A Family Affair

I think it's natural to want your kids to enjoy your hobbies as much as you do, so I'm always trying to find stuff we can all do together.

Hash running for adults is pretty wild and inappropriate, so I don't do them. You pretty much run, booze, and flash your boobs. Don't take my word for this. Just what I've heard. You also get fabulous hash names like "Tampon". I'd totally be game if I wasn't such a prude. They run trails and often at night! How cool is that? Being a shy one though, I have yet to participate in a hash run.

They do, however, hold family hashes. These welcome children with two legs and four (pet doggies!). Courses of different levels of difficulty are offered from stroller to long. The kids loves this! My boy takes off with the big kids and adults for the long course and Mia and I take the stroller course as I am usually the stroller, as you can see in the picture.

The family hash is pretty much like the adult hash where you have "hares" you chase on a marked course. These markings are usually shredded paper or cooking flour. Now, I'm not seasoned in this, so I'm not 100% clear on the how-to's, but with it mostly being held on off-road courses, you help each other out by shouting out "ON ON" when you see piles of shredded paper or flour, or "ON ON ARROW" when you see them with an arrow marking a change in direction. At family hash there is nothing cuter than a 3 year old hollering "ON ON" with authority. Mia refused, but she traipsed like a good little hasher through the boonies until there was too much mud, of course. Can't muss up the cute socks, you know. That's when the Mama has to get her weight training on and heft the diva on her back. LOL at my camel pack pulling in all kinds of directions. The ship that was my dignity sailed off long ago without me.

In the end, my kids are not afraid of getting a little sweaty and dirty as a family on a Sunday afternoon, and I may just be planting a seed that will blossom into a love of the outdoors with a side of physical fitness.

I think I may have found the mark where the kids will take off in healthy directions in their lives without me. ON ON!!

Progress!

Week 3 or 4? I can't remember. I'm feeling pretty good about AT LEAST shaving some time off my 13.1 PB. 8 miler yesterday at high noon was hot, and sometimes challenging with hills and traffic, but it was not miserable and once I got to where I had some cool wind in my face and a stretch of uninterrupted running, my pace stayed below 10:00.

The toughest part was trying to start running again after being stopped at a light. Some of the crossing signals did not work. Ended up standing at some for a while before I decided to just book it, but then I rested so long my knees and locked up. ARRGH! That hurts! Starting again while in pain like that, it took time to get back to a decent pace.

I may just do my next long runs in the 'hood on my little .5 mile stretch of road. It's mind numbing, but it's safer and uninterrupted. Also at home in case I'm running behind schedule. Little Girl's school is right there.

Starting to feel good about this!

Emotions Run Amok

Haha! I've always loved this picture from the "first world problems" memes. It's actually quite fitting for last week's flub of a training week though, and that I don't quite love.

It's getting down to the last itty bitty of this current deployment for my husband, which always puts me on edge without fail (always the feeling of the other shoe dropping, last minute extensions etc...). It's also the start of lots of new things for my children that I'm dealing with without my more rational half. Ms. Hotmess will be going to school without her beloved brother, who she's made the responsible party for all her comfort and happiness, and it's Mr. Handsome Pant's first year in middle school. I'm a mother truckin' mess!

Last week started off well with the 1/2 training, but as it wore on to a week till 1st day of school, I started letting myself get overwhelmed. When this chic gets overwhelmed, nothing outside of making sure the kids are fed, clothed, and loved gets done right. Therefore, I missed two days of run training. Two pretty important ones, actually.

Thankfully, I've been building my training base and that week will not hurt me TOO much, but I really need either for my husband to get back on time, or to learn some new coping skills when the going gets rough. Really, there are worse things to worry about in the world, so I should be able to handle business and get training done good and right. Never admitted to being Ms. Put Together during deployments though.

New week and game on. Full on strength training yesterday and a straight up run today.

The best thing...

...I can do for this training is to not play the football until after the Koko Half. Every time I play during the weekend it takes me till Wednesday to recover. My training runs suffer. My head hurts, my lungs feel shrunken, my heart rate is out of whack, everything is stiff from my neck to the arches of my feet. The runs are off pace by a good 45 seconds per mile and every single mile is painful. It sucks.

The problem is I feel terrible about not being there for my team and our sponsor. Even when I'm in bed sick, I feel horrible if I'm not on the field helping out. Every time I say I'm going to take a break to focus on something else, I get drawn in. I'm weak and don't know how to say "no".

7-a-side starts this Sunday. *sigh*

A Realization

So, today I had to do a run on the track. Very controlled environment so I could analyze the run. I have always been pressured to lengthen my stride and look straight ahead of me, but today, as I carried my phone with my miCoach app running, I found that when I did that, my pace was slower. When I shortened my stride and looked just ahead of my feet, my pace was much faster. Huh! Very, very useful information. I am much more comfortable with the short strides.

Week 1 Down

Not a bad start at all. I'm proud of myself for getting all my required miles in. I had the sense to do my long run during the week on Thursday knowing it would have been impossible to get out for it over the busy weekend. I think this is going to be the plan for the entire program.

So far my Saucony Hattoris have been my favorite shoes. I've actually had more uncomfortable runs with my usually favorite Brooks! I'm disappointed. Those things weren't cheap. I may be using the Saucony's for the full program. Might need to pick up another pair.

P90X

There's been some progress. How does it help my running? My arms don't get tired from swinging so much for long periods of time, and they also look so much better in a tank than my formerly pudgy arms did.

Seriously though, P90X, which includes a hardcore 15 minutes ab workout, has given me an overall strength that helps me keep good form while I run. I've noticed that there's less movement in my hips, my arms don't cross my body, and my legs don't feel like two logs. Such things happen when I'm tired and unfit. The improvement in form makes for a more comfortable, quicker pace.

Training Day 1

Speed work day. Did it on a treadmill to force myself to hold the pace. 400x5 at a 5k pace with walking/light running in between. Warmed up for 800 at 10:00, then bumped up to 8:34. Alternated between 8:34 and 10:00, with 10:00 be rest. For the last one I bumped it up to 7:30 for the kick.

The gym staff seemed impressed with and amused by my training today. Me running at anything below 9:00 is probably pretty comical. I make a pace faster looking than it would for a tall person with my short legs, and I'm sure I look pretty constipated when I'm focused. As I said my goodbyes I got "you go, girl!" and "YEAH!" in return, haha!

Tomorrow a straight up 3 mile run and strength, which is perfectly timed with my P90X workout.

Off we go!

There's a thin line...

...between mental toughness and stupidity. I ran that line today. I had one of the most horrible runs EVER. I think it was at a 12:00ish pace and I simply could NOT go any faster. My calves were in knots for the entire run. My quads and hammies aching with fatigue.

I stuck it out, but as I gimped through it, I realized that this exactly what I tell people not to do. Every time I had to pull off in the grass and stepped into a dip or on a rock, I realized that my calves were so tight that one stupid roll of my ankle could have strained or pulled anything and everything from my heel to my knee.

What did I get out of this painful, dangerous, painful, super slow run (yes, double painful)? Not much. Maybe I sweat of a couple of chocolate chip pancakes from yesterday, but that's but a drop in the big bucket that was my binge o' the month. Maybe the legs have gained a bit more tolerance, but it's the first week of training. Still have 11 more to build up the legs on days when I feel much better.

I think in order to be successful at achieving my goal for this next half marathon I have to train smarter. I need to adjust my schedule to make sure I don't have back to back hard run days and do a recovery run on Sunday to break up some of the lactic acid early on. No sitting all day snackin' just because it's supposed to be a day of rest!

I keep forgetting I'm not 20 Something anymore. I've got to be kinder to my aging limbs.

Ready, set...

GO! Sunday is the 1st day of the new training program. A little nervous. I upped it to "intermediate", which means I can't always just go through the motions to get a training run done.

This time around speed work is involved to help pick up my pace. I can't just do the best I can, I have to find a pace beyond my comfort zone and hold it. I'm pretty sure I can do it, I just don't think I'll like it a whole lot. I'll definitely look forward to the scheduled straight up runs at nice comfy paces.

Alright. I'm ready.

Cross Training

So, I'm kind of cross training for both running and triathlons, but since the next race will be a 1/2 marathon, the focus will be on that.

I will continue to swim at least twice a week. I have found it to be a very relaxing, overall work out for the muscles. I also find the pressure of water to be a sort of mini massage on the cheap. It's quite the workout for my upper body, most especially, which will help me maintain good form during my runs.

Cycling is something I kind of enjoy. Mostly the mountain kind, but it has helped to strengthen my lower body as long as I do mostly hills. This I will likely do 1 to 2x a week, but it is not a priority. It's a focused workout that I don't like, but it will help both my running and triathlon efforts by giving me some strong glutes and quads.

Today's training consisted of a 1500M swim that took me 41 minutes and 39 long seconds. Just a shade quicker than the usual. Ack. Dunno when I'll bring that time anywhere near below two minutes per 100M. Waiting for my swim instructor to get back to help me with that.

Before that I got in a very uncomfortable 3 mile run on the treadmill. Every dang Sunday lately I get my ass kicked. I've got turf burns on my elbows, and some kind of weird calf injury. Someone missed the ball completely with the TOE and got my calf. It's a small spot of very intense pain!

I'm hoping the rest of the week's training will be more comfortable. I'd stop the co-ed master's soccer games if the team owner wasn't a friend. It's just a weekly beat down, as far as I'm concerned.

Happy Monday!

Training Necessities

The Plan:

Went with Hal Higdon's novice plan for my marathon training and liked it. Simple, reasonable, and I felt positive about my progress after each long run. Going with the intermediate program that will incorporate tempo and interval runs.

The Equipment:

Drank the minimalist cool-aid and purchased a pair of Saucony Hattoris. So far they've been very comfortable for up to 5 miles on the road. They force me to strike on the balls of my feet which puts less stress on my hamstrings when I'm going for speed. Of course I have my trusty Brooks for my longer runs when I'm not focused on time and will use the longer strides.

 Since I'm doing some triathlon training and still playing soccer on top of the running, I need to stay on top on my nutrition and take care of the machine. Endurox R4 for muscle recovery and Cytomax energy drink for anti-bonking purposes during the long training sessions.

 The trusty Timex. Eventually I'll pick up a Garmin, but in the meantime, this watch and my iPhone with the Adidas miCoach app have been great for tracking runs, swims, and cycling.

Crosshairs trained...

...on this race. My personal best for the half marathon distance is 2:14 and change (I cannot find the race results for that race at the moment). The goal is to finish in 2:05, which has been the average pace of my training runs for the last few months.

It's Been A While...

...since I've felt this motivated. It's taken a series of failures and a birthday milestone, but I finally get it. I'm no longer 20 something and have to work my butt off to progress. I'm determined to post new PB's. Bring on the lonely miles, hill repeats, tempo runs, and speed work. It's on like Donkey Kong. Yeah, yeah... again.