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Wine & Dine!

This was the half marathon I've ran with my dad. It was a great feeling, he has completed more than I have, but this was the first one that we have ran together. I had my dad, his friend Darryl, my friends Ben, Matt and Chris, and a few other people I knew from work on the course and working the event and on the course. It was also my first night race! The Wine & Dine half marathon started at 10 PM! I was unsure how to fuel myself throughout the day for the night race, but actually I did a better this race than I have for previous races because I felt fine throughout the entire race and after. I ate a bagel with almond butter and granola fro breakfast, a pita with some chicken and hummus for lunch and another bagel and almond butter for dinner. I ate a access bar 30 minutes before I ran and felt great. I started in corral A and the minute the fireworks went off I was ready! 

The weather was absolutely perfect. I haven't felt weather like that since moving to Florida. I couldn't have asked for better race weather! The miles flew by, and I barely looked at my watch. I loved running through Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. It was a great feeling to know my dad and friends were in the race as well. I beat my last half marathon time by 6 seconds, and I was really happy about it. After I crossed the finish line I was able to go to my car and change and freshen up a bit before my dad and everyone finished. When everyone crossed we all went to the after party in Epcot- we walked right onto Soarin' one of our favorite rides, and then walked around the countries. I didn't feel like eating, but it was still fun to walk around Epcot at such a late hour. I didn't go to sleep until 4 AM on Saturday, and was exhausted on Sunday, but it was definitely a race I will always remember. 

I am considering running the full marathon in January. I took Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off running, but am ready to go again tomorrow. My legs were a little sore, but other than that I felt fine!

Wine N' Dine half marathon!

Pictures and Recap coming soon!

Time: 1:49:21

BUSY!

WOW! I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated. Things have been busy. I have not missed ONE day on my training schedule, and the half marathon is next weekend!

I have a lot to update- this past month I visited Michigan, became a Godmother, completed my training, PLACED (3rd in my age group/ women) in the Lakeland series, celebrated a few friends Birthdays here in Orlando and have prepared for a cruise I am leaving for Thursday.

It's really been a crazy month. Although fall has officially started, it doesn't really seem like it living in Orlando! The weather is starting to cool down and I can especially feel it in my morning runs.

I also have purchased my official RACE DAY outfit for next weekend from Lululemon. I will take pictures and post pictures of everything I've been up to soon!

WEEK 6!

Training is flying by! In fact, summer is flying by. I can't believe I've been training for 6 weeks already. A LOT has happened since my last post. Last Saturday was the Track Shack Celebration of Running 5k it the Orlando Science Center downtown. It was a HOT morning, but two of my friends ran it with me so it was a blast!

My first mile was 7 minutes, my second mile was at 14:46 but then I crossed the finish line at 23.54. I was a little disappointed at first, since my last race was 23:18, however I think I might have pushed myself a little bit too much in the beginning. That is what these races are about, learning! HOWEVER, I was pleasantly surprise to find out I placed! 3rd in my age group! I actually got a trophy for being top in the women age group.

My entire race outfit is Lululemon, head to toe!

I have another race on Saturday which will end the Lakeland series. I have really enjoyed the series, and have really enjoyed running in them!

The Intermediate schedule I have chosen to follow only allows one rest day most of the week. This has kept me busy! I've been trying to do the majority of my workouts in the morning, which I have really enjoyed. The furthest I have ran so far is 8 miles. I did 6 miles tonight, and it was still pretty humid outside.

I'm excited for raceday Saturday, now I need to pick out an outfit!

Week 3 of training.

I've noticed from looking back on this blog that I was running faster while training on the treadmill/ track than I am now. It's hard for me to pace myself, I think I really want to invest in a Garmin Forerunner sometime soon. Sunday I took my rest day, and looking at my schedule for the week I don't get another one until Sunday. Monday I ran 3 miles at Celebration, which was actually pretty neat because I saw a gator there for the first time. (Monday) I ran 3 miles in 30:34. 

I ran the beginning with my roommate, so we did a really easy pace. (Today) I ran 2 miles in 17:41. 

I have my alarm set for 6:10 AM. I am going to run my 7 miles tomorrow morning, which will be the longest distance I've ran in a while. 7 miles before work? Why not.

Where did July go?

 I can't believe I'm already on my 3rd week of training. The results are up from the Lakeland series- it says I am currently in 3rd place in my age division- which doesn't make sense because the top girl is in my age group, but they didn't display her name. I'm not sure how they are doing scoring, but if I remain in the top 3 I will get recognized next race!

Lakeland Series #3

Today was awesome! My alarm went off at 5:20 AM and I jumped out of bed ready for race day. I felt a little more prepared today than the last two races since I have started to incorporate speed into my runs.

The night before I laid my outfit out.

I wore pretty much my exact lululemon outfit that I wore for the Pittsburgh Marathon. 

I am becoming very comfortable with the course, now that I have ran it 3 times and have enjoyed it every time. The weather is bearable in the shade and with a breeze by the water. Today was great. My roommate Beth and I had a extra friend come to this race with us, our friend Brent. It was great to know there were friends running in the race with us. We started together, and although I told him I wanted to start out slow our first mile was 7 minutes!

My Nike watch is completely off, so I'm not going to even go by that but I know my time was 23.18 minutes. This is a huge improvement from last week where my time was 23.59.  I came in 19th of 383 women who competed today, 3 of 50 in my age group (for women) and 131 of 705 overall.

It was a good morning. I'm still waiting for the series results to be posted. I'm confident with more speed training and dedication I can reach a 22 minute 5k :) 

Love.

"Newness breaks barriers. Reach for it daily"

Lululemon

I have a 5k tomorrow. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical yesterday, weights, abs and a speed run, improving the speed by .5 for a mile. Today I am going to do the speed run again along with 4 IW's- 0.25 sprints followed by 0.25 walks. It will be my first time completing this. Tomorrow is a 5k in Lakeland which means 5:20 AM wakeup call! 

Training.

I have been bussssy! Training officially started last Tuesday which means I have been back into half marathon mode for about a week. I missed having my calendar of set workouts in between training. I really like knowing exactly what workout I will be doing the next day and so on. The last time I posted was exactly a week ago, which means I have a week of workouts to catch up on here. Luckily, I record all of them to keep track of my progress.

Thursday, July 14 I ran a easy 2 miles at 19.26. 


Friday, July 15 I ran 3 miles at 28.46. 


Saturday, June 16 I swam for a hour in the pool.


Sunday and Monday I took rest days (I prefer not to take two in a row, but I didn't anticipate Monday being so busy)


Tuesday, July 18 I ran 6 miles in 57.17.


Today I ran a easy 2.5 then ran 1 mile with speed workout which I will explain. 

A friend of mine used to train runners in the military. He is going to help me with my breathing, and speed. To start he told me to start at 7, run for 1 minute, move it up to 7.5, run for 1 minute, move it up to 8, run for 1 min., move it up to 8.5, run for 1 minute, move it up to 9, run for 1 minute, move it up to 9.5, run for 1 minute, move it up to 10, run for one minute. I did exactly this tonight and it took me to a mile in about 7.05. I found it challenging, but definitely doable. I think I will try starting it at 6.5 or 7 next time, or maybe not combining it with a long workout and doing two speeds. I am going to add this to my training, in addition to what I already have on my schedule. Not only am I training for the half marathon in October, I am also trying to improve speed. I have three 5k's coming up from now until the end of August.

I am excited for the Track Shack Celebration of Running 5k in Downtown Orlando. I have two girlfriends who are signing up with me, which means we will probably head to Lululemon to get matching outfits!

I actually designed a logo for Track Shack's Battle of the Band's 5k. Here is the final version of my design:

...and it begins

Training for the 2011 Wine and Dine half marathon on October 1 has officially begun. Yesterday I started with a "30 minute tempo" run, which wasn't exactly that. I started on the treadmill walking and since I haven't used the treadmill in a while I wasn't sure what was a comfortable pace for me. I started at 8.5 but quickly cramped and tried to breathe through it, and put the treadmill down to 6.2 for a little. I received a phone call during the run that I had to take as well, but I hopped on and tried to finish strong. All in all it was a good run to get back into it, and I definitely think the treadmill is going to help my speed. With warm up and cool down my total was 5 miles, but I only ran 3.9 of it.

I ran 3.9 miles in 35.57. 

I am going to research how to use the treadmill to do the Interval workouts, and see if I can use the treadmill to help me track 400 meters. Otherwise I'd like to find a nearby track I can actually use.

The picture of me is at my gym in my apartment complex with my new shoes. I ended up keeping the original pair I bought a few weeks ago and yesterday was my first time testing them out. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about them, they felt a little bouncy but definitely supportive. I'm excited that training has officially begun. Today is cross training.

Today I like...

I have a lot to update. Until then, today I like...

Speed Morning

I attempted a speed morning today.

I ran 3.1 miles in 24:56.

I do think my watch is off though. According to my watch today though, my splits were 7'43, 8'03 and 8'19. It was tough, and now my hips hurt. I really think I need to take some time OFF until I get my new shoes. The weather is terrible, it's just rainy outside and there isn't much motivation to do anything when it's like this! I was thinking about going to the gym in the morning to use the elliptical before work to give my running legs a break.

I really want to look into the Garmin Forerunner, because I would like to have a little more accuracy with my training. If I'm going to do the work, I'd like to at least know accurate results!

NEW Half Marathon!

It's official! I am signed up for the Disney Wine N' Dine Marathon on October 1, 2011. I am excited! I can't believe it but next week and I will already start my training program. Here are the two I looked at, intermediate and advanced.

I am actually excited to be back in a training mode.

NEED: New Shoes

I am still holding off with my new shoes. I want to go back to Track Shack and get a second opinion. In the meantime, I know running without inserts distance is not great. I woke up this morning to do 5 miles with my roommate, but I think I am going to concentrate on speed and strength this week until I can get new shoes.

I ran 5 miles in 52:39 today.

My plan for tomorrow is to use the gym at our apartment and do speed- maybe three miles at a QUICK pace, but spread out. In between I will do abs and strength.

I am really beginning to enjoy working out in the morning, mainly because I have the rest of the afternoon! In other news, I have officially decided to sign up for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in October. I am going to need to now research another training program- and with a half in October maybe I will go for a full again in December or January- since the training will be half done. I am going to look into signing up this weekend!

5 days!

Race.

I was able to go to sleep REALLY early last night. I was in and out of sleep throughout the night, but popped up way before my alarm went off at 5:25 AM- I was up around 4! Maybe I went to bed too early.

I always am excited in the morning when it's a RACE DAY.

Before the race... (still dark outside)

My official chip time today was 23:54

This time put me in #168 of 777 finishers today.

The race results are finally up at www.coolrunning.com. I did NOT use my new shoes today, I'm still in debate if I want to try to get different ones- since the new ones kind of make me feel like I'm walking in moon shoes. I really tried to PACE myself today- however I definitely could have pushed myself a little more. My official chip time last race was 24:04. So I did improve (even if not by much). My stomach was upset during mile 2, but I actually really enjoyed the run today- the weather was nice, my music was great and I felt good during the run. Last race I came in #191 of 835 finishers.

Now, in my age group- I am not doing so bad! Last race I came in 6th place for Women's 25-29 and this race 8th place. Since the girls in the top didn't do both races, I'm in place #5 for the two races so far. Top 3 finishers get prizes!

Race #1

Race #2

I KNOW what this means. I need to do speed workouts. I do! My time is a exact measure of the work I've put in, which for speed is none. I will get better!

After the race...

I'm so proud of my roommate, Beth- she did awesome! She was able to run 1.5 of the race and improved her time by almost 2 minutes. Her goal of running the full 5k by the end will definitely happen- I ran to meet her when I finished my race and run with her and she was able to SPRINT the finish line. Awesome!

After the race I came back and the weather was beautiful and I felt great so I decided to go to Celebration and run 5 more miles. My watch was acting up and wouldn't record the time- but I did the loop I usually do so I can guess it was around 5 miles. When I got back a friend asked if I wanted to play tennis- and I said absolutely! I haven't played since last summer, but it was really fun. We played for about a hour and a half, and now I am exhausted. What a day!

Prep for 5k.

Playlist. Check! Tomorrow will be a Florence + The Machine run.

Here is my layout of race items for tomorrow. Until then, goodnight!

New Shoes!

Yes, I got new shoes. They are Asics and I have never ran in this brand before. Actually it's the first time they haven't been Nike in a long time. I don't know how I feel about this switch, but I think the pain in my feet had a lot to do with the shoe so hopefully this solves the problem. Since I am still running with my Nike watch, I had to buy a Nathan holder for the chip in my shoe for $10. Again, I don't know how I feel about all of these changes, but I guess tomorrows 5k will be the perfect opportunity to find out.

I took a REST day today. I didn't wake up in the morning and considered going swimming after work, but just decided to take today off all together. It's 7:40 PM and I want to be in bed by 9 AM. I have a 5 AM wake up call, and I'm hoping to feel better at tomorrow's race than the last one. Here are some pictures of my new shoes. I haven't done as much speed training as I would have liked since the last race, but I am using tomorrow as a speed workout :)