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...