11/21/09-Halfway there! 7 weeks of training done!

Well, I'm halfway there-7 out of 14 weeks of my half marathon training are now complete. It was so darn exciting that I.......hit a wall today *sigh*. Yup, my very first wall. I had 9 miles on my schedule for today, and I was looking forward to it (I really like my long mile days). Had my usual waffles, turkey bacon and orange juice breakfast that I have on my long mile days, then set out (a little later than I would have liked, but it was just one of those mornings). It was 72 degrees and about 80% humidity with very little breeze, and the sun was out most of the time. I was already soaking with sweat after about a mile and a half. My running intervals were feeling sluggish which I attributed to the muggy weather. Had my first gel after 45 minutes and started to feel more peppy shortly after that (it helped that after that my route was totally flat and under big shade trees). But then at about 5 miles I was really starting to feel it, like everything was starting to drag. Even my 2nd gel at the 1 hour 30 minute point didn't seem to make a difference. I got slower and slower...then finally at about 7 miles that wall just loomed up in front of me and WHACK! I hit it. I did keep walking though, albeit slowly. Tried speeding up at the 8 mile point but by then I was out of water too (going to have to cave and probably get a fuel belt) and I just wanted to crash.

Finally made it home, had 16 oz of lowfat chocolate milk (boy that felt good!) and now I'm crashed on the couch. Burned 2179 calories during 9.20 miles...temp at the end was up to 82 degrees and the humidity had dropped to 62%. As I was entering my complex at the end of my route, I realized part of my problem...every Friday night I have a nice plate of whole wheat pasta...which I didn't last night. Didn't have as much carbs in total for the entire day yesterday either.

I just kept pushing through, I wasn't about to call anyone to pick me up. It may have taken me a half hour longer than I wanted to finish, but I finished on my own. Now to go evaluate the first half of my half marathon training...7 weeks done, 7 weeks to go. I KNOW I can make this better!

11/14/09-Racking up the miles

So today I finished my 6th week of my half marathon training. Today was an 8 miler, actually did 8.42 miles (I had planned 8.17 but mixed up my route by accident, thus the extra 1/4 mile). This past Thursday was my first day of 3 min walk/2 min run (I've been at 3/1 for a couple weeks). The 3/2's kept getting me a little out of breath, but I made it through all of them plus my form/stride drills afterward. Today's LR was with 3/1's though...I don't do an LR with 3/2's for another 2 weeks.

I am doing really bad with my cross training---as in skipping it mostly. I have tons of motivation for my walk/run days (especially my LRs), but cross training I am TOTALLY unmotivated for. I don't know why that is...and I've got to stop that. I really need to be getting in my strength training, especially for my core and back muscles. On my LRs for like the last third of the routes my middle back has been getting tired, making me feel like hunching over which I have been actively trying not to do. So I need to suck it up and do the cross training, no matter what.

Weight is at 213.6 now, so total lost is 38.6 lbs. I am hoping for 212 at my weigh-in tomorrow to hit the 40 lb mark, but TOM is arriving tomorrow or Monday (might be some of the reason for my back getting tired during today's LR) so I'm not going to hold my breath. *Thinking positive happy thoughts*

All right, on to lunch and a shower so I can get some shopping out of the way!

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!

3 weeks of training done!

Yup, just finished week 3 of my half marathon training. This week was a little wacky with life getting in the way and making me rearrange my schedule this week. Hopefully all that stuff is done now and I can get back to my strict training plans. Only exception is the next two days...we had a yard sale yesterday (more $$$ to spend at the expo in January!) so I did my long walk/run today. So instead of having a training run/walk tomorrow, I'll cross train tomorrow and do the run/walk Tuesday instead. Wednesday is a regular rest day, then Thursday will be back to normal.

Today did 6.41 miles. Started off about 80 degrees out and finished at 85 degrees. It was sunny and clear the whole time. About 60% of my route was shaded but that other 40% was smack out there in the sun...whew! But I do seem to be getting faster...my weekday short run/walks I'm having to go more miles to fill up the time. My first week I started with 2.55 miles for the short ones, now I'm at 3.06 for the same amount of time and it looks like I'm going to have to map a longer route again! So yay for me on getting faster!

Next weekend, Halloween morning (Saturday) is the Women in Distress SafeWalk-Run 5K at Markham Park. I signed up for the timed run...this will be my 2nd timed 5K and 3rd 5K overall. I am participating as part of my Spark Fort Lauderdale team (from the free sparkpeople.com website that I am using for weight loss). We are hoping to raise at least $1000 as a team...so far we're only at $145 for outside donations, $85 of which is from my friends/family (our registration fee counts toward it too but I don't know how many are signed up on our team). If anyone is reading this and wants to help out (even $10 helps!), the site to donate on behalf of our team is http://www.active.com/donate/safewalkrun2009/SPARKTEAM

Okay, gotta go make some lunch so will write again later this week!

10/6/09-Training plan started!

I started my half marathon training plan yesterday. I started off slow and easy...I figure there's plenty of time to go faster and further after I get used to everything. So yesterday (Monday) I had 5 minutes of warm up walking, then I did 3 minutes walking, one minute running eight times. Finished with 5 minutes of cool down walking. Since I was going slow I only did 2.55 miles. Shins were a little grumbly at first but the longer I went the better they felt. Today is cross training at the gym. Planning on elliptical, stationary bike and weight machines, probably 20 minutes of each. I've been doing the elliptical for about a week and a half and really like it. It does give my quads a heck of a workout...I'm slowly adding time on it-started at 15 minutes and hoping to up that to 20 today.

I made my own music mix for yesterday...put my iTunes in order by length of track, then found two 5 minute songs for warm up/cool down and eight each of 3 minute and 1 minute tracks. Made it really easy to know when to change from walk to run and back without having to keep checking my watch. I need to make a 4/1 mix and a 3/2 mix for future days when I'm doing those intervals. For the half in January though, I'm just making a playlist of songs regardless of length and my DH is going to overlay verbal cues on top of them to say when to change. Since I'm going to make the playlist 3.5 hours (just in case I need it that long, but I'm shooting for closer to 3 hrs) it'll be kind of hard to find enough good songs to walk/run to to fill that much time without constantly repeating.