Week 5 Training Recap

This one is extra late coming in. I'm sorry! I've been devoting my nighttime hours to wedding invitation. We're down to the two month mark.

Last week I almost completed a full week of training. I was so close. But it was a great week nonetheless, and I feel fully prepared for my 10k on Saturday.

Monday: NROL. I'm almost done with Stage four, and I'm pumped about that. I really loved Stage three and I'm excited to get back to those exercises in Stage five. So close. 7,903 steps.

Tuesday: Rest day. I didn't even get a lunch time walk in. Stupid wedding errands taking up all my free time. 5,749 steps.

Wednesday: This was supposed to be a four mile run, but I made friends with an adorable little dog, and didn't want him to follow me too far from his home, so I called it around the two and a half mile mark. 14,585 steps.

Thursday: Scheduled 3.5 miles at an average pace of 9:41. I am really getting used to morning running. It's actually refreshing. And I'm this close to making it a habit and not a chore. THIS CLOSE! 13,504 steps.

Friday: NROL. I actually woke up early to lift, which almost never happens. I get in this nasty habit of knowing I can do it later, and hitting that snooze button, but it felt great to have the workout in before work for once. 13,531 steps.

Saturday: This was supposed to be an eight miler. But it turned into the most fantastic nine miler. I haven't run nine miles in years, and I felt awesome. I even maintained a sub-10 min pace and stretched appropriately afterward, so I didn't get sore the next day. That happened. It was epic. 16,746 steps.

Sunday: With this being Easter, I did nothing but eat. Mostly good food, but no exercise. I could have done my sprints, but I didn't. And I'm okay with that. It was my first solid training week, and I felt amazing. 3,004 steps.

Week 6 is a lighter week, since it's a race week. Just two training runs, two strength days and race day. Hopefully my race recap this weekend will contain a PR. I want to get under an hour so badly at the 10k mark. If my long run on Saturday is any indication, I should be able to. Wish me luck!

Week 4 Training Recap

It's a miracle. I am healed. Week four was not the week I anticipated. I really planned to get a full training week in, but I was exhausted all week. And while it wasn't a great week, I was glad to get four workouts in, even if my long run got cut short.

Monday: NROL. Have I mentioned I hate lunges. I have? Okay, last day complaining about this, I swear. It was a good workout. It always is. Things that you hate tend to make you better and stronger. It's actually nice to get the lungs in several different positions like you do in stage four. And it makes it more interesting, even if it sucks. I forgot my FitBit! Based off my activity level I would guesstimate 11,000 steps.

Tuesday: Rest day. I fully intended to run in the morning, but could not get myself out of bed. My allergies were awful, so I slept. 10,066 steps.

Wednesday: 35 minute tempo run. It was amazing. I had no pain, and actually felt pretty fast. I managed 3.5 miles in 35 minutes, so a pretty normal pace for me. 12,115 steps.

Thursday and Friday: Rest days again. Seriously. The pollen count was ridiculous. I wasn't sleeping well. Work was stressful. I have all of the excuses. But the truth is, I was lazy. Big slap on the wrist for me. No more this week. I'm back on track. 9,625 and 8,367 steps respectively. 

Saturday: NROL. This was a super busy, wedding-planning-filled day, so I am happy to report any exercise at all. I did not get in the interval session at the end of workout B since I was on a time crunch, but it felt good nonetheless. 7,515 steps.

Sunday: I set out to do my seven mile run, but I procrastinated until 4 pm, and it was 90* out. Without water, I made it four miles and called it quits. But at least I got four in. Again, no pain. 10,000 steps. 

My goal this week is to complete my training schedule. So that includes four runs and two lifting sessions, including my eight mile run. I decree that my long runs will happen on Saturday instead of Sunday to encourage early morning running. My Sunday mornings are just too rushed to get a  long run in at a time where the sun won't murder me.

If all goes to plan this week, I am registering for the half marathon on Monday (April 21). That should be motivation enough for a good week. Eek!

Week 3 Training Recap

Not much to report on this week. The large majority of the week was spent taking it easy to encourage the healing of the ankle in anticipation of my triumphant return to running on Saturday. It was not so triumphant.

Monday: NROL Stage 4, Workout A. I am not a huge fan of Stage 4. I wasn't when it was Stage 2, and I'm still not now. I workout hard--I'm just not a fan of lunges. Squats any day of the week. Lunges how about no. Regardless, I got in a good burn. 4,480 steps.

Tuesday: Rest day. My ankle was not ready for running and NROL suggests taking rest days between lifting sessions, so my activity was minimal. 3,888 steps.

Wednesday: NROL Stage 4, Workout B. Again, a good burn, but not my favorite. I could have tried to push to get to 10k steps today, but work is making me tired. 8,023 steps.

Thursday and Friday: Rest days times two. I did manage to get in a walk at lunch on Friday, which was awesome. I had seriously missed my walks while babying the ankle. I'm glad that it's not too hot to walk at lunch. Although I am seriously considering treadmill walks on my lunch hour for when we get consistently in the 90s. I don't know how I will get steps in otherwise. 3,607 and 8,720 steps, respectively.

Saturday: This was supposed to be my triumphant return to running. I was supposed to have no ankle pain. I was planning on getting in two to three easy miles as a warmup for my Sunday 6-miler. Well, I did get in two miles, but there was still some ankle pain. The good news is there wasn't any swelling afterward and the pain did not persist. So I really think we're almost healed now. 7,868 steps.

Sunday: Unplanned rest day. After the pain on Saturday, I wasn't willing to give the 6-miler a shot. It just seemed like a bad idea. I toyed with the idea of another short run, but by the time it got cool enough to run outside, I was exhausted. 3,875 steps.

Overall, a rough week.

I hate not exercising. It drives me crazy.

C-R-A-Z-Y.

My 10k is in two weeks. I'm still confident that I can get back on the wagon for half training. As long as I'm healed and ready to start running regularly by the 10k, I'm still on board. I'm mildly frustrated that my ankle is taking so long to heal, but I'm also happy that I'm confident enough to listen to my body.

Almost. There.

So.

Close.

Race Recap: Angels 5k

Hello! Saturday was the day of the Angels 5k. My dad was actually the one who got me to sign up for this one. I am the only runner in my family, so I was a little surprised when he said he wanted me to sign him up for a race. But the surprise lasted for only a moment before I started asking everyone in my family if they wanted to do it to. And they did. Five for the price of one.

There were 5,000 people running the 5k. All through that tiny little start gate.

Now I take it as a personal victory that my whole family signed up: mom, dad, brother and fiance. They're not runners (except for the fiance), and this was a huge step health- and fitness-wise. I cannot express how proud I am that they went and finished. It's awesome.

Brian and me at the start line. The sun was directly in our eyes. It's a cute look.

As you know, I was running injured. I managed to eek out the first two miles with little difficulty, but I had to walk part of mile three. Even though Brian is faster than me, he stuck it out with me for the whole thing. We came in at a time of 31:16. Not my best. But running while injured, I'll take it. I will note that mile one came in at a 9:00 pace and mile two came in at a 9:15 pace, so had I been uninjured, my time would have been solid.

Baby brother post-race.

Now let me brag on baby brother. He decided to train legitimately for this race. He's always been athletic bur never been a runner. And he came in with a time of 22:29. Kid kicked my ass. He came in 20th in his age group and 93 overall. In his first race ever.

Needless to say, I was impressed.

My parents came in at a respectable 47:46 walking the first two miles and running the last one. Overall, it was a great day. While my time wasn't awesome, the day was not about me. It was about a healthy day for the whole family. And I couldn't be happier.

Brian and me post-race.

Week 2 Training Recap

Week two of half marathon training did not go as expected. I ended up injuring my ankle somehow, so the week was overall a light one in regard to training. My best guess is that I twisted my ankle at some point in time last weekend. I don't have any memory of pain or injury of any kind, so the pain and swelling was interesting and unexpected.

So starting on Monday last week I have been religiously icing, taking Motrin and resting as much as possible. This makes for a fairly abysmal step count for the week. But the good news is that my ankle is feeling better today, so with a few more days of light activity, I hope to get back to training.

Recap:

Monday: NROL Stage 3, Workout A. 11,334 steps.

Tuesday: 6x400m. My ankle was sore, but the swelling was minimal, so I ran on it anyway. Bad idea. The run was awesome, but this definitely aggravated the injury. My ankle was very swollen for the rest of the day and hard to walk on. 10,221 steps.

Wednesday: Rest day. I tried to walk on the ankle at lunch just to feel it out, and gave up 15 minutes in. Ice, rest, repeat. 3,283 steps.

Thursday: NROL Stage 3, Workout B. I felt fully capable of lifting on this day, but definitely not running. My FitBit was also a little testy. I probably came in closer to 6 or 7k on steps, but it wasn't counting them for whatever reason. 4,304 steps.

Friday: Rest day. I had a 5k on Saturday and wanted to run it, so I had no interest in pushing myself the day before and further injuring the ankle. 3,549 steps.

Saturday: Angels 5k (race recap coming soon). My ankle was actually feeling okay before the race. It was definitely tender and had I not had a scheduled race, I wouldn't have run on it. But I did have a race, so I ran on it anyway. I ended up keeping a solid pace for miles one and two before succumbing to my injury on mile three. I had to walk a bit, but still came in at the 31 minute mark. Not too bad for running while injured. 11,500 steps.

Sunday: Recovery day. My ankle was fairly swollen after the run and I iced and rested. Worst step count of the week: 1,334 steps.

All in all, I did get most of my training workouts in while managing to keep my step count low and baby that ankle back to health. I think I'm almost there, though I don't intend to run again until Thursday morning. I would really like to get in my six mile run this weekend, so positive vibes for a healed ankle are much appreciated.

Week 1 Recap

As you know, last week marked the first week of half marathon training. Overall, it went well, especially considering the residual soreness after last weekend's killer 10k.

Here's what happened:

Monday: Rest day. I spent a good amount of time rolling out my calves with a baseball. They were so very sore after the 10k on Sunday that a rest day was much needed. 10,019 steps.

Tuesday: Involuntary rest day. I wanted to run. I wanted to run SO BAD, but my calves were still very tight, and this turned into a stretch day. More rolling. 10,043 steps.

Wednesday: 4x400m. This was my first time doing intervals. I was supposed to do 5x400m, but I was tired, sore and over it by the time I hit number four. I'm definitely looking forward to more intervals. 12,600 steps.

Thursday: An easy three mile run. I did a light 10 minute pace, and enjoyed it. After work, I did NROL Stage 3. It was a bit jagged as I had to take a break midway through and resume later, but it was still a great workout. 14,419 steps.

Friday: Rest day. Only 8,789 steps. Normally I would jog in place to get the steps up to 10, but not today. I was beat, and just needed to sleep.

Saturday: Three miles at pace. I managed to run the three miles at 9:27 pace, which is fast for me, and it felt great. I should have stretched better afterward, but I was cooking for FI's work week and it fell through. Lesson learned. 10,032 steps.

Sunday: This should have been a five mile day. I went out mid afternoon planning on doing five miles, but I wimped out after three. My left calf was sore and my right heel was tender. I was hoping that both would pass after I warmed up and stretch, but the pain just got worse. I kept trying to stick it out, but called it after three miles. Three very slow miles at an 11:31 pace. I did end up walking the two miles back home, but it doesn't count as a run. Lesson learned: Stretching is important. 10,227 steps.

As a recovery week, I'd say it went fairly well. I certainly wish I could have had a successful long run on Sunday, but I learned a lesson, and that's always a good start. Thankfully today is a stretch and strengthen day, so I can continue to work out my calf soreness and let the heel rest today.

I have a 5k this Saturday, so this week is technically a race week in addition to being week two of half training. Should be fun.

On a side note: FI has midterms for the fire academy this week. If you could send positive vibes his way, that would be awesome. Thanks!

To Half or Not To Half?

I'm dealing with an interesting dilemma.

I ran the Orange County Half Marathon in 2011 and came in with a time of 2:32:16. It was a great time for me. I was coming off of two back-to-back fitness challenges where I lost about 30 pounds, and I was at a personal low weight of 128 pounds. I was not a runner.

Looking back now, I know that I went about my weight loss challenges in an extremely unhealthy way. I was eating 1,200 calories per day and exercising for at least an hour a day, six days a week. I honestly don't know how my body lasted.

Over the last three years, I have had a dramatic change in my relationship with diet and fitness. I eat cleaner. I eat A LOT more ( I average about 2,200 calories per day). And I focus on lifting heavy and maintaining a solid three mile base in my running. At 5'6", I now clock in at 150 pounds, give or take. And I'm definitely the most fit and healthy I've ever been.

That was a weird tangent.

I had a point.

The point: I'm considering running the Fontana Days Half Marathon on June 7. It's an all downhill course that's supposed to be one of the fastest in the country. It sounds kick ass. It's also only $50, which is crazy inexpensive for a half marathon 'round these parts.

However, when I started running in October, I told myself I would stick to shorter races. Mostly 5ks and sprinkle in a 10k every now and then. I want to be a runner. I don't want to push too hard, too fast and burn out.

When I ran my first half in 2011, that's exactly what I did. I wasn't eating right, training right, wearing the right shoes or clothes. I fumbled about on the treadmill and limped through long runs on Saturday. I faked it. Then the half came and went. I did well. And I didn't run again for over a year.

I'm a very different person now than I was three years ago. If I sign up, I don't think I will burn out. I am a runner now. But there's still a part of me that's afraid that I'd be pushing too hard. I want to run this race, but I still don't want to commit to it.

So my plan is to start training for it without signing up. I have modified Hal Higdon's  Intermediate Training Program taking out one of the run days, because I know from experience that I can't swing five run days in a week.

As my long weekend runs progress through the weeks, I think I'll get a better feel for whether or not I want to tackle 13.1 again. If I'm not enjoying the longer distances, then I will drop the training plan altogether. I'll run the 5k that day instead, and it's still a win.

So this is the plan. I will start doing a weekly recap on Sunday's to examine what worked and what didn't, and keep tabs of how I'm feeling about the half along the way. Let's get 13.1 (maybe).