11/1/09-Four weeks down!

Fourth week of my training is now done. Finished it up yesterday with a 5K event, then another 4.18 miles after I got home to get my 7 in for my long mile day. I'm pleased to say that while I am still in the turtle category, I am getting faster. For the 5K, I finished in 47:30, a 15:19 pace. The 5K I did on Memorial Day I finished in 47:58. But note to self: do all the miles at once...doing the 5K and then having an hour or so before doing the other 4.18 miles was not a good idea. I was a little tired to start the 4.18 and by the time I was done---well, it was pretty much nap time (except I didn't get to nap, had shopping to do with DH before he left today for work again). This week should be easier as my long will only be 5 miles since I will be changing from the 4:1 walk/run to a 3:1. Monday and Thursday will be doing 10 3:1 intervals instead of 8 also.

So my report from the 5K...started out around 79 degrees with about 80% humidity...I ran for the first minute, then started my 3:1 walk/run (yes, I know my long days thru this week were supposed to be 4:1 but I wanted to do well in the 5K). The event was held at Markham Park and was almost all flat except for a few small bridges. By the time I hit the one mile mark there were already some people coming the other way (the overall winners for M/F were 17 min and change and 18 min and change). The further in to the race, the higher the sun got so during the 3rd mile I had the sun right on me, no trees to cover (thanks to Hurricane Wilma knocking over about 2/3 of the park's trees). Once I finished the 3rd mile, I ran the rest of the way to the finish line. Had to wait about 10-15 minutes after to see my results, they kept updating the board with the preliminary times. I was very happy to see my 47:30 even though I was last in my age group...but there were only 12 of us as compared to 60 of us at my last 5K (but I didn't finish last there, I was 56th out of 60). That's okay, faster is faster so I'm happy.

One thing I've been noticing lately is I really need more warm up walking---my first mile or so is not very comfortable, everything is still a bit tight. I'm going to start adding on more warm up time to see if that helps-I think it will.

Oh, almost forgot---the scale FINALLY started moving down again! Only 0.6 pounds to 214.4 but hey, it's DOWN so hopefully my mostly self-imposed plateau is over!