Speed + Fun = Fartleks

Fartleks are a sweedish term for running which means speed play during running. So tonight being our first speed workout for the "marathon or 21 mile race" program Coach Paul and Ramon had us doing speed play for our workout. We started out with a 15 minute warm up then did some active stretching and plyo's in the parking lot. We got started doing a countdown.. 2minutes hard, 1 minute easy, 1 minute hard, 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard then repeat it all until you get two miles of speed play in. Most of Liz and my faster running was at sub 8minute pace. most of the easy stuff was in the 10minute/mile range. Then we did an easy 10 minutes of cool down and stretching. I'm looking forward to the miles in this program.

Tomorrow I'm off to do Kettlebells  a photo shoot and hopefully run hills tomorrow night with some gals from running group then an easy 5 in the park Thursday with the girls and Kettlebells on Friday. I really need to work on eating well in the morning. I keep falling off the Gluten Free (GF) bandwagon and that is something I need to work on better because my tummy is not a happy camper when I fudge brownies literally and figuratively on my diet (I did pick up some GF blueberry waffles to try and of course some other yummy treats like Nutella to give my blander foods some pep! I need to drink more water. I know that. So I'm off to do great things and I'm starting by finishing up watching Biggest Loser then heading to the shower and to bed. Night all.

But it's so SAFE Here

I'm a total chicken. When it comes to new things I'm afraid that I'll fail so why start. What if I try something I've never done and I totally bomb and all my worst fears come true? I do a lot of negative self talk and Ive been working on overcoming these conversations with my self that only stop me from doing what I really want to do. Running has given me confidence to at least try things I never would have done before. I mean what normal person, who runs2-3 miles on the treadmill and does a few weights and the occasional cardio class would wake up one morning and want to run a marathon? Not only that but go out and DO IT? I mean the training has always been the funnest part for me, you  know other than the whole getting injured part. I have worked for the last 3 years to build not only miles to the marathon but also the confidence needed to get me there. That confidence has led me to try other new things like Kayaking and getting in the lake where I can't touch without a life vest. I'm thinking of going back to school and pushing my photography stuff a little more this fall. I'm looking forward to trying new things like how to really swim instead of half assing it. I'm thinking of going longer distances and not so much on speed work. I'd like to run more trails and maybe run from the "green gate" on HWY 32 down to one mile. If I went up and back it would be about 18 miles. I'm ready to tackle these things slowely but I'm ready.

I used to use fear as an excuse to keep from getting hurt. Now I use it as a tool to stretch my limits a little past their comfort zone. At kettlebells I climbed the rope, not all the way to the top but farther than I've ever climbed before. I'm not afraid to try things that I refused to try before. I'm ready to hurdle these obstacles and have fun doing it too.
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Running this week
Monday I ran 3 easy and Day 1 of KOR (he went easy on me though)
Tuesday Ran w/ group from the park to upper Park trails to the "Z trail" which is not fun. Its up up up along the hillside to upper trail. we did repeats. one of our runners fell and sprained his ankle. Not fun. at all. I got to direct the ambulance to where the coach and our down runner was. I did total about 6 miles though.
Wednesday: KOR and 3 miles
Thursday: 3 miles (was going to do more but Blondy ended up with a migraine at school)
Friday: I got the migraine... how did that happen?
Saturday: 10 miles total on the books w/ warm up and cool down.

Run the Baby Fever away!

Tuesday: 1000m warm up + plyometrics. 8x 400's at 10k pace w/ 200easy jog between

I have had so much fun running this week. The speed work out on Tuesday was rough on me and I probably shouldn't be pushing myself that hard but I hate "slow-as-molasses" me almost as much as "6-miles-is-my-longest-run" me. But when we got to the 7th 400 segment my right hip tightened up and I knew I had better slow it down and stretch it out. I really only missed one so I'm good with that. I have to say that I love how the speed work challenges my mind. I'm not the kinda girl who likes to count her laps or what interval she's on but I love to say the # I'm on and the pace I was at after every speed segment. I then give myself a little pep talk or mantra at the very end of my rest segment to pump me up for the next speed part. I'm such a nerd. I sometimes say them out loud... you know, when I hope that no one is listening to me. LOL


Wednesday: 2.3 miles on the dreadmill so slow it was almost sickening

Guess what? Now that I'm running what is comfortable and not kicking myself for the super s-l-o-w speeds I'm enjoying my running. I ran while watching TV shows that should never be on television. It was great! I'm all caught up on Bethenny Getting Married? and all I want is to be pregnant and have a baby girl now. Very crazy and I think that's why I signed up for the Marathon Program again. Marathon or drive the FFP crazy because I want another baby that we can't have. Yea, I'd choose the marathon too. I love and adore my boys and it is WAY too late to start over now.


Thursday 1.2 miles walk w/ Laura then 1.8 mile jog w/ her. Dropped her off and Ran 2.36m on my own.

Laura met me w/ Laila (Cindi's BFF) at one mile and we walked for a mile or so to warm up since her knee has been bothering her and I really wanted to warm up my hip first. We got to talk about girly stuff! I have known Laura since high school and she is one of those constant things that holds me down to earth when things get crazy. We got just past the one mile marker and decided to pick it up. We jogged along chatting and visiting and gossiping as usual and the 3 miles went by entirely too fast. We stretched and I looked for someone else to jog my last 2 miles with but no one was available. So I cranked up my "Eclipse" sound track and got to it! The park was so pretty and there were tons of people out. I just smiled and waved and said good morning to every one along the way. I really truly enjoyed my run. I didn't even look at Big G until I ran past the boulders that mark our trail runs. I felt so amazing. I looked at my crazy slow speed and smiled. I just missed running so much that a run like that couldn't make the smile disappear.



Do you run to make up for something you feel is missing in your life? I am totally trying to out run my biological clock. The only thing that seems to work is Marathon Training.

Run into the New Year

So far I've tallied about 22 miles for the week. I didn't run last Saturday with group because I just wanted to sleep in and hang out with my kids after being gone to LV the week before. I knew vacation was coming to an end and I wanted to not have to worry about getting up and about for just one morning. I took up an offer to run with Susan (owner of FF and 5k, 10k and 1/2 mary coach), Ed and Katie (both helping to coach the 1/2 mary group). I love my running groups but not sure how "special" I looked running with 3 coaches, either I really needed it or I'm damn lucky. I'll take the latter "Thank-you-very-much". We took the trail to upper park and the levy around to the bridge, back through 5mile and down the trail to 1 mile again. I love our not so little park. I had missed my running buddies now that we were all running different speeds during training. It was so nice to chit chat with them again. 6.89 on the books and the first for the new year and new decade.

Tuesday: Speed work. I got there early and ran an easy lap around the 1/2 mile or so loop at WW park. The fog was setting in as we did our plyometrics and warm up. We got done as the pea soup feeling settled in around us. 6x800's . Wahoo! But I kinda suck at figuring out what my threshold pace is. My marathon pace is actually about the same as my half and my 10k pace... because well, I don't really know why its the same. I feel like I push the same effort at any distance some are just farther than others I guess. TTD and I settled into a 8 minute pace (for me in hopes of speeding up by teaching my body that faster is not a bad thing) and Liz and Ross were on our heels. Diane is new to the program and she stayed right with us too. The fog was so eerie. I really liked it up until someone mentioned that it seemed like a set for a horror story... eek! Then I ran faster thinking about things like men in hockey masks and chainsaws and before I knew it the speed work was over. Did a cool down and some stretching with David. 5.5 miles in the books for my second run this 2010 season.
I took Wednesday off and ran Thursday hills with Liz, Katie and Kim. We met at 5pm after work and it was already mostly dark. We had fun with the rolling hills in CalPark and Canyon Oaks. If you stick to the main road, and don't climb the biguns, then the gentle up and downs feel like work in a good way. The fog looked beautiful hanging into the nooks and crannies of the canyon and the light finding its way through the dark foggy night in beautiful and magical ways. I <3 my good friends and a good run. Another 4.04 miles in the books.
Thursday: Ed FBed this morning that he wanted to run in upper park this morning. I took him up on it and we had a blast. We trudged through dirt and mud and muck and talked and talked and talked. I haven't had a run alone with Ed since his "unemployment days" not so long ago. Today his job was on a furlough day like most of our friends in any govt. or upper division school position holds. So glad to take advantage of the BEAUTIFUL day with a wonderful friend. 5.5miles today.
Sheesh I feel so blessed to be a part of this amazing running community.

Week 15

Today was our last long run of the 17 week training session before the marathon in 15 days. It was a great day and we did much better staying on pace than I did on Tuesday.

Tuesday: I drop the boys at my parents in the next town half an hour away. As I'm heading down the hill back to where we're running rain drops start hitting the windshield. By the time I got to the park it was POURING. The workout was supposed to be 1 easy, 6 at race pace (for me 9:15 miles) then one easy. I don't think I ever got any faster than 9:42. I felt like I was running faster, I was soaked to the bone. I was tired and done. When that last lap showed I did 9:58 even thought I should have been thoroughly warmed up at called it a night. I only got in at total of 6.5 miles in. I went home shed my soaking wet clothes in the laundry room then still walked dripping to my room to dry off and change so I could go back and get the boys. This was not my best speed work. But I figure we are so close to taper that its not the end of the world. By the time I got back into the truck 15 minutes after leaving the park, running home and changing the rain had stopped. Go figure. The test would be how I did on my long run Saturday.

Today: Saturday
We ran easy (9:45 or so) out to Durham park and Race pace (9:15) back. That was the theory anyway. You know that is my favorite run. Through the orchards to the park, its so darn beautiful and lots to talk about with TTD today about life and parenthood and family dynamics. We did our full 8miles then turned around and put our race pace faces on. We caught up to Susan, Patty, Ross and Liz about 5 miles back then took Vicki with us to the end. That last mile split was a 7:50pace. Wow. No wonder I was feeling wiped. We came in strong with an overall pace back of 9:03/mile. Crazy. Crazy enough to feel confident when the race comes up.

I See the Light

I know I had a few weeks there where I wondered what in the heck I was doing this for. I'm over it. I had a few wonderful runs and some confidence back in the bank. That helps, a lot. Yesterday we ran the same 20 mile route we did two weeks ago. This time TTD and I added 2 more miles after dropping Kosmo at the car. 22 miles is the farthest I've been since the CIM last year.
We were suppose to run easy until mile 7 then Mpace to 10, easy to mile 17 then Mpace to 20 then finish up 2 if we felt we needed to get over the mental hurdle. Alan would say its good for the head. And it was. The miles flew by. We took turns talking and time to tune out. We actually did 3.5 miles at race pace since we started after we dropped our stuff after the first loop then finished strong at mile 11. There were some rolling hills on this course and I'm glad we're practicing with them since CIM is full of them. On the way back from our last little jaunt up into upper park I felt a bit of back to the barn syndrome and the need to test my speed. I was 17 miles in and ready to push it a little to finish strong. The first mile or so Kosmo was on my heels and although I left my watch at home I knew we were in the mid 8 range which is 45 seconds or so faster than Rpace for me. I dropped back a little after having hitting my max and followed Kosmo and waited for TTD to come in. Kosmo high 5'ed me and said happily we had gotten into the low 8's for that last bit. OMG! Really... that's like me mile pace. No kidding. I have 1 speed for a mile or a marathon. well not that bad but there isn't much of a difference anyway. TTD caught up and we finished the last 2.56 miles at an EASY low 10's pace for us. We stretched real good and some of us (not me) got in the creek. Since I had the house to myself this find Saturday I chose to stop by the store, get a panini and a bag of ice and torture myself all by my lonesome. I said goodbye to my running peeps and headed that way. What a great run.
Insights on Saturday:

• I felt strong
• I didn't have to chase away the negative thoughts
• I recovered well because I ate right away, I did an ice bath and I rolled and stretched that night
• I enjoyed talking to my friends and the chance to pull inward to listen to my own thoughts
• I didn't miss my watch as much as I thought I would. If I run like I feel I think I do better than if I'm constantly worried if I'm going fast or slow enough
• I loved my music but need some variety. It did keep me pumped up.
• I think I may be faster than I thought. We'll see about 11:00 on December 6th.

Today I feel so good its kind of scary. I do think I'm still having a hard time hitting my calorie needs but I'm good on hydration and I've been holding this ear infection at bay. I'm ready for my last long 3 hour run next weekend and 20 days to the CIM! Its just two weeks away for my BIL Brian who is running the satalite marathon for the Seattle Marathon from Iraq. I'm so excited for him!

What if I want a 4 hour marathon?

I've posted a few things on here about wanting to run a 4 hour marathon. During the program we have had two 10k time trials. I'm not any good at them! Both of them came in at close to 58 minutes... not even close to what I'm capable of. My half marathon pace is faster than that! Ugh. I just could not find my high gear during those runs. I was afraid that getting any faster was a pipe dream. I'd need to run a 9:09 for 26.2 miles to come in under 4 and I couldn't run that for 6.2.

Last nights speed work was well work. We left from a different spot and used the available light as a guide for running time not miles. Coach Paul and Alan wanted us marathon group to run hills. We would do a mile warm up then the rest of the time at marathon speed. Am I supposed to run at the speed I want to run for CIM or the speed according to my really crappy 10k time? The run took us up into upper park (the trip up was lots of uphill on uneven surfaces) 37 minutes including our easy first mile then turn around how ever far you are and make it a negative split back (mostly down hill except for one long up hill before the lake) for 33 minutes. I got back to the parking lot at the perfect time 1 hour 10 minutes. I looked at my times, deducted the first mile and the remaining 6.5 miles was at 9:11 pace. Really darn close to the pace I was hoping for. If I did run EXACTLY 9:11 pace at the marathon that would put me at 4 hours and 36 seconds or so.

Part of my running regimen has been to incorporate a stronger core by spending an astronomical amount of money for a 6 month membership to KOR fitness. Lots of kettlebells and stretching there to make me more efficient, stronger and faster (I hope). I'm going to miss it come November when my membership is up. I'm not sure I want to give that up. My hands are all tore up today. I probably won't be able to lift my arms up to wash my hair after those clean and presses or the 6 minutes of snatches that K.C. told me not to worry about counting since I was using the 26lb bell. I can feel myself getting stronger after every single class. That will be hard to give up.

So do you train for the time you want... or by how fast you actually are now? The run felt comfortably hard once I got a good breathing pattern down, not sure if it will last 4 hours though. I guess that's why I have coaches and 11 more weeks of training to figure that out.

Speedy mcSpeedy

Up at 5:30 with news that we have a new little Nephew, born at 4:47 this morning, 8lbs 11oz and 20.5 inches long! Great job Rachel and B! So happy for you guys!

I dropped the kiddos off at school and went for a run in the park with Liz. We were a bit speedy today and turned our "feels-good-go-a-bit-faster" run into a speedy workout. We pushed it all the way and come in at 4 miles in 36:28. That averages out to be 9:06/mile (ugh... my marathon goal Pace!). It did feel good the whole time but I think I would need to GU every 5 miles if I went that fast. That is A LOT of GU! Long(er) run tomorrow! Supposed to be 7-8 miles but I might try to get there early and sneak a couple extra in there before hand since I'm short one mile from yesterday and 7-8 just doesn't feel like a long run anymore.

Food! Banana this morning and Chai after my run. Yes I know! I need to find something else. I AM going to get the new parents some cookies. Oatmeal (good for milk supply) for Rachel and PB for B.

Still no Garmin band or charger... I'm getting impatient!

Reach for the Stars

I'm in motion... moving towards the new season, the new dreams, the new reality of running a marathon again. My goal last year... to finish. My goal this year, concentrate on enjoying the ride.

I have made such wonderful friends in our little running community. Those folks down at FF are like my other family. I swear there are some I love as much as my family (sorry family). They help keep me accountable, in control, looking for new dreams, stretching my sights, pushing my limits. This little family is making me stronger, in my muscles, in my heart, in my head.

I am going to log my miles as power miles, no matter how slow, fast, long or short. Time to make Tina Stronger... build her confidence, fuel her drive to make a difference, even if it's just a difference in her time. It's OK to have bad runs but not OK to dwell on them. This marathon program is about the journey to the end, not so much the end result... at least until I get to the end then that will be what matters LOL.

I am not drinking soda. I know it's bad for me. I know it makes my restless leg syndrome act up, which leads to insomia, which leads to tired and cranky Tina who does not want to run. I can practically hear the calcium being sucked from my bones. No more soda. Not too much Alcohol... you know maybe some on Vicki and Liz's birthday and maybe one after the half marathon in October. But this summer was all about me enjoying a few cocktails with friends and boy oh boy did I.

I don't think I'm going to run a half, at least not to the limit. I think I'm going to enjoy the Nike Women's and if another half comes along I really want to run... and there is still room, I might jump in. No pressure. I want this whole experience to be about loving to run, loving to live, loving to be strong and have power here (pointing to my arms, then my legs, then my core, then my head). Its about quality time with my friends and setting a positive example for my kids and husband. This journey will take me to new places with familiar sights along the way.

What does it matter, that finish time, if getting there was a labor of pain instead of a labor of dedication and love? What finish line is it that you passed, succeeded, earned if you did not enjoy that journey to its fullest?

Trail Less Traveled and my walk for a cure

First a shout out to Ed who ran the Paris Marathon Sunday morning. He took in his first sub 4hour marathon despite the crowds and cobblestones. I'm sure when he gets home you can read all about it here. We're so proud (and so jealous) but can't wait to run with him again soon.

Trail Less Traveled. This trail run took us up and around the hills overlooking (kind of) Lake Oroville. My plan was to have no goal, to just go out and have fun, take my time and cross the finish line. Some of us ran the Quarter marathon and some of us ran the 5K. I took off too fast into the race and when I hit "the hill" I was dragging. This hill just kept going and going and going. Vicki said it was about .6 miles or so of up, up, up. You look around the next corner for a reprieve. There wasn't one. At 3/4 of the way up I had to walk. I was walking faster than I was running. It was so awful and all I wanted to do was throw up. Thank goodness I didn't. When the top came I was so relieved!

The rest of the race was a lot of up and downs but just enough to push me but not so much as to make me cry, which wouldn't have taken much I'm sure. I caught up with Susan and we talked for a while. There was these guys who popped out of the bushes. I hadn't seen them before so I think they were taking a potty break, LOL. We kept them motivated for a mile or so making them run if we got too close to them. It's funny what a girl behind you can do for motivation hu? By the time we got to about 5.5miles I passed the boys and kept pushing it home. I came in at 1hour 6 minutes and 46 seconds. That's 10:12 a mile. Not great but not bad for the first trail run out of shape.

I'm looking forward to upping my mileage again trying to hit 25-30 miles a week through the spring. Summer will include a 10K program and a 5K in June, the Avon Walk for Beast Cancer (more info on that below) with my friends and then the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October while training for the CIM again.

This summer I will participate in my 6th Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in SF. 26.2 miles on Saturday and 13.1 miles on Sunday to raise awareness for the fight against Breast Cancer. Each year I have a new reason to walk. This year my Uncle Larry has been re diagnosed with cancer and this time it won't be an easy fight. Actually it is eventually going to be terminal. Chemo and surgery will help him hold on for awhile but eventually the cancer will take over. My biggest hope is that finding a cure for Breast Cancer, that my Mother in law is a survivor from, will be a key to finding a cure for cancers like Pancreatic cancer that took my Grandpa, Leukemia that took my Uncle James, and stomach cancer that is effecting my Uncle Larry.

This charity is more than a walk to me. It's a family affair. My Aunt Sandy (Uncle James' wife, Uncle Larry's sister), my mom, my Grandma all do so much for me to walk. They are throwing this huge Bunco party for me and last year raised an amazing $2100 toward my two walks. So if any of you are in the bay area and would like to come hang out and play bunco on June 13th give me a call. I'd love to see you. My family is so amazing. My Mother in law and her friend Jewels have had wonderfully successful yard sales that have raised as much as $1200 for me in one day. My friend Jenni and I are having fundraisers to ensure that we both walk including a local bunco game here in Chico. You see that this is more than a walk, its a mission for me. I am thankful for every day that I spend with my family and friends, thankful for my health and thankful to have the power to help.

mom, me, Aunt Sandy in Long Beach for my 5th AWBC

Fast(er)

I did speed work last night with the fleet feet crew and I felt like I did a year and 3 months ago (slow). I guess I couldn't have been going too slow because for the most part I was keeping up with Vicki, at least til the end and she had an excuse too. She gave blood before the workout. We did a warm up to the park, some stretching and the directions. The temps were warm in the 70's with high humidity for this time of year. Took some getting used to. Today we would be doing 2 minutes easy running, 4 minutes hard x3 out then do the same back. So that was 36 mintues total. We definately did negative splits even though Vicki's last 4fast was a lot faster than mine. I had to hold back for fear of making a fool out of myself by puking on the side of the road in front of the mens softball team.

Don't you hate it when you just "have" to go faster than the two snotty girls in front of you but they are such BITCHES that they intentionally stay right in front of you! UGH! Mine was pure compeditiveness and they were just being snotty, catty, bratty Bitches, looking over their shoulders making sure I wasn't on their tails. They stopped at the fence where we started our workout but we still had two minutes to go, and then saw me keep running so they had to "sprint" ahead of me to be in front. What the hell? I am so going to kick their asses next week when I'm back to being me. We jogged back to the store and stretched and drank some water. I saw them leave and had this urge to flip them the bird... but I'm nice (on the outside) and refreigned for the sake of Susan and Alan who's store we were occupying and probably didn't want a brawl in the middle of it. I'm such a big talker. That would have been the ULTIMATE April Fools Joke.

Ain't no April Fool

I wanted to finish March strong. Well at least running. Yesterday I did level 1 of Jillian Michaels 30day shred then ran with the Couch to 5K group last night. They walked to the park, Ran 3min, walked 1.5min, ran 5min, walked 2.5 min then did it again. It was 12 minutes out and 12 minutes back. totoal of 16 minutes of running which is more than most of the runners had done before. I got to see Peg (my mom's friend from work) and Kari who I ran on the levy with a few weeks ago. I'm so proud of them!

Today I'm sore in my shoulders and arms. I should have stared with 2pound weights instead of 3. I know I'm a total wimp. But I have also lost a lot of strength since I've been on these antibiotics. I am having trouble opening jars and lifting things that were always easy for me before. I can't wait to be off of them.

I am running a speedworkout with Susan and the FF group tonight. I figure I won't be out in the sun so I won't break out in a rash. Although I did get eaten alive my mesquitos last night. I will spray bug spray on myself before I go out tonight. I'm excited and nervous. I may even run a couple of miles before hand to get my miles in before the 6.55 mile trail run this weekend. Its been a month since I've run that far! Of course Tracey and I did come in 2nd for the womens relay teams so that could boost my moral.

Ed leaves today for PARIS! We are all so excited for him. I can't wait to hear all about it. GOOD LUCK ED and Terri! Have a fun and safe trip. They will be running the 5K the morning before the marathon too. Of course they have all the other sight seeing plans on the table too.

Relay

TodayI ran the Bidwell Classic Half marathon but I did the relay instead of the full since I'll be doing Shamrock'n next weekend! Remember last year when I ran the half marathon for the first time? This was that same race but I dreaded running around our beloved park TWICE again. So when I was asked to do the relay I jumped at it. TTD was my partner and she did the amazing first leg, so I went out for an easy 3 mile run before my leg of the race. I'm not sure what her time was but after the "exchange" point I turned the corner and headed through the finish line shoot and the time said 57min so I knew I needed to keep the 8:30 pace but I didn't have my Garmin and I didn't have my tunes so I was by myself out there.

Vince ran the first mile and a half with me and we were doing a little over 8 minute pace and I knew that was too fast so when he took the cut off I slowed down a bit and found the zone. Problem was the zone kept getting slower and slower until I realized people would start passing me! I sped up and found a faster happy place and by mile 4 I had caught up with a guy who was doing 7:40! I don't think he was going close to that fast when I was catching him but he didn't want me to beat him so he sped up. Men and their ego's hu? I stayed with him from mile 4-5 and decided I probably wouldn't finish if I kept that speed up. I slowed back down and took it easy mile 5-6. Probably too easy as I took the corner and could see the finish line I kicked it into high gear and sprinted! I practically ran over the gal in front of me to beat her to the mat on that last turn into the shoot.... sorry! Well kind of sorry, she knew I was behind her but stayed right in the middle of the narrow path anyway. I'm not exactly sure of our time but I looked at the clock and it said 01:51: ?? (I have no idea what the seconds were). TTD met me with water and a hug. What a great relay partner hu? I figure I ran about 8:30 pace and know that next weekend won't be that fast but I'm hoping for sub 9s anyhow. WAY TO GO EVERYONE! Both Ed and Susan took some pictures that I will post when I get them.

That sweet spot

So far we've had a good week. I took Sunday off of running and Monday the rain came. I headed out when the hubby got home and about a half of a mile in the rain started. Cindi didn't like it but as long as we kept moving everything was good. We took off towards KK's house and the levy and when we turned East onto the levy the wind and the rain came on strong. It was a hard run but we had a good 2.13 mile run in then turned around to head for home when the rain got harder. I have to say it was fun to go out and run next to the channel and have Cindi off her leash and the route to myself. I loved having the wind in my face on the way out so I could push myself through it and to my back on the way back. Once we got back to the houses and turned off the levy the wind wasn't so bad. I got home, soaked, dried the dog and got on with my day.

Tuesday's weather was high clouds and no rain, light wind. We did a .75 mile warm up then some plyometric work on the baseball field. then we did 1200m intervals at 15 seconds faster than 1/2 marathon pace. That was supposed to be 8:30-8:45pace. Of course I hung with Vicki, Liz and Vince (or tried) and did way faster intervals I was shooting for, more like 8 minute pace. I'm sore today. But I felt really good when I was done. I'm going to be sad when this program is over and I hope for the best for all of us in this half since it is quickly approaching.

Today I will be running with Good Neighbor and Gehrig, slow steady and great recovery run from last night.

Thursday is my long run so I won't have to have a sitter. Liz, Vicki, Vince and their significant others will be headed to Tahoe for a ski weekend and need to get it done early and if I get a weekend off of getting up early. Maybe I'll even make it to church this week.

My whole dream of doing one legged squats with the kettle bell... didn't happen. I'm having some guilt over spending more money on myself but I'm afraid to do the kettle bell thing myself.

Fast Pass

I did speed work out tonight and even though it hurt, it was cold, it was wet, it was not as fun as I had hoped it would be...I did it. 1.5 mile warm up with strides and 10x 800m at 10K pace and 40 seconds recovery between. I managed to hang with the girls and stick just a few seconds behind them. Each interval landed me in at about 4 minutes to 4min10seconds. Not too shabby. Ohhh and the hubby bought me a windbreaker/water resistant jacket and it came in handy since I ran in REAL RAIN not just drizzle tonight.

Since I've got Disneyland on the mind still I decided to use a bit of terminology for my post tonight. I passed the long line (no long run this week) and jumped in at the fast pass (speed work). Thursday long run, Saturday Almond Blossom 10K(kinda)and breakfast. Maybe some kettlebells and an easy run with Jenni in the morning. Cindi really, really, really needs it.

Pick up the slack

Blondy loves the Tower of Terror. We had to run across the park to make in on time befor it closed Friday night.

I really need to pick up the slack. I would count walking all over Disneyland for three days working out because I have to. I have done nothing in terms of running or working out this week. I started getting a headache coming over the Grapevine Saturday on I-5 (or "the 5 if I was from SoCal) and it just progressed into a migraine as the night wore on. I still have the headache. It doesn't want to let up. I'm hoping that a good workout tomorrow night and some nice weather for the next few days will help get me back into the swing of things. I will say that I ate very healthy while on our trip. I chose fruits and veggies as snacks and at dinner I chose a small protein and lots of veggies so I didn't gain 5lbs on our 3 day excursion like last year. Guess What? I still gained 5lbs. What the heck. Must have been retaining water or something, Dehydrated and puffy is my only excuse.

Tomorrow it starts again. Speed workout, Kettle bells on Wednesday and Friday. No MORE SLACKING. The Shamrock'n Half is just a few weeks away. No more excuses.

I did take my resting heartrate this morning before I got up and again tonight and they were both 55beats per minute. Pretty good. My resting heart rate when I started the half marathon program last January was 63bpm so I'm showing cardiovascular improvement. Lets see how the next few weeks go though. I may be kickin' myself for taking a week off.

Hey, you wanna see some more pics from Disneyland!?! Head on over to my other blog to get the story.

PR: 10K

Today we had 10K time trail to see how we've improved over the last 5 weeks of training. Although I've been suffering from this chest cold that may or may not turn into a real full blown chaos before we go on vacation, I did remarkably better than I had hoped. My first time trail was around 57minutes and today I came in at 52:30! That's an 8:28 a minute pace, WAHOO! Believe me I had NOTHING left at the end. At mile 5 I had to slow down a bit due to some wheezing and every time I tried to speed up it would show up again. Liz came in a marvelous 14seconds in front of me. I tried so hard to keep up...ugh. Vince who didn't think he could keep up with us did awesome at today's 10K. He stayed with us until that last 1/2 mile where he kicked it in and caught up to Todd who we kept in our sights the whole run but he seemed just too far to make up. But since I've taken over 3 minutes off of my previous PR and more from the other time trial I'm stoked! Now I'm worried that David and Alan will place me in a faster bracket than I think I can handle.

Tomorrow Vicki and Ross will be running the Davis Stampeed 10K and I'm sure Vicki will have SMOKED my time and I'm excited and happy for her! Can't wait to see their times. What an improvement Ross has made in the few months since jumping head first into the wonderful world of running.

Tuesday we leave for Disneyland. Hopefully there is a treadmill at the hotel since Disneyland really isn't in the safest area for outdoor running alone. But we will have fun!

Sweetness

Just put my miles in for today and realize that I hit the 100 mile mark on the dot for this month. YAHOO. My goal is to hit 1000 miles this year. I think I might take a 5K program somewhere in there that will give me a break from the hard long milage but give me a chance to work on some speed.

So for the first Month of this year I hit my 100 miles and I'm stoked. I'm still going to work on those 1 legged squats in Kettlebell class.

There's no place like home

Today is a day when I wish I had stolen my moms treadmill and set up shop in the living room. The run outside was horrendous. I just could not get and stay focused. I yearned for those easy miles to find me but they never did. OK so I stuck it out and came in at just under 3o minutes even though I was supposed to go out for 30-40 minutes today. Today it wasn't just in my head but my whole body was having a revolution against this new life change of mine. That's fine, I came in my the skin of my teeth but tomorrow I'm going to kick its butt in Kettle bells and take the doggie for a walk. I'm going to make it wish I was running so Tuesday night will kick ass and Wednesday and Thursday's 5 mile runs will be a dream. Friday will be my core/xt day maybe another kettle bell class and Saturday is another LONG run. I'm putting it out there... This will be a great training week.

=)

Week in review

I got absolutely no running in last weekend. I had a great long run (12 miles) with AnnMarie that Thursday before but the streets were not plowed in a way for me to go run in a strange area and feel like I could safely move out of the road if I needed to, that and lots of old people up there driving just don't watch out for little ole' runners like me. So we did a lot of walking and climbing and sledding. We had a nice weekend together and spent genuine quality time with the fam. Love that. we got back into town late on Sunday but Monday flew by before I got a run in. Tuesday night was speed work and I felt pretty good out there but I had a rumbly tummy and felt a bit tired. I pushed through and had a good night of hard running. One of my 1200m intervals was at 7:38m/m pace. That is GREAT for ME. I'm the resident slow poke. I just didn't feel right by the end. I thought I must have been hungry but by the time I got home the stomach flu/food poisoning had set in and I was miserable all night. I will spare you the details but it was not pretty. Exhausted and hurting I stayed in bed ALL DAY on Wednesday and Thursday I went out for a run but the lack of food in my system for 36 hours absolutely played a part in my heading back to the house after a quarter mile. Friday I took up with Laura at the 4 mile mark of her 10 mile run. We did a nice 6 mile run together and missed most of the rain. Saturday was our long run with the FF Training team and little group o' girlz; Liz, Vicki, AnnMarie, Patty and myself had a hard time getting warmed up but after dropping Patty at the 5 mark so she could complete her 10 miles we made it to the 6.5 mark, took some GU and headed back to finish 13 miles. I felt really good from mile 8 to mile 12 then the last mile I wasn't sure if I could finish. I just tried to keep up with the girls. we stretched really really well and headed home.

I had a revelation today though.

Cheeze ITs are so yummy! I love them! Oh yea, I'm not eating wheat products anymore (again). Damn those Cheeze Its! Now I wonder how they found their way into my house? someone is trying to sabotage me. Its my own conspiracy theory. Ohh... and then they went and bought PIZZA! Damn them and their Carbohydrate and Grease loving little bodies. I guess I'll have soup. =(