Half-Marathon Trainee

50th post

2011-05-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Friends,

I have decided to stop blogging here about my training and continue to blog about my training over at my newer blog: Teach.Run.Love.

For the last update: 3rd half marathon in one year!

Country Music Half April 2010: 3 hours 10 minutes and 27 seconds
14:32 average pace.
Splits: 5k= 43:32. 10 Mile=2:24:55

The Woman's Half Marathon September 2010: 3 hours 17 minutes and 4 seconds.
15:03 pace

Country Music Half Marathon April 2011: 3 hours, 13 minutes, and 37 seconds.
Pace: 14:17. Splits: 5k=43:20. 10K= 1:30:01. 10 mile=2:26:02.

Please keep following me over at Teach.Run.Love

Rain Rain GO AWAY AND DON'T COME BACK....

2011-04-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

Until after race day...PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE!!

That's how I felt this past weekend. We ran 9 miles...9 MISERABLE miles. It was much colder than it has been and this is one of the first weekends that I decided that I didn't need my running tights. I thought I could get away with my cute running skirt, a drifit tank and a long sleeve tee. BOY WAS I WRONG! It was 49 degrees and windy. There was debris on the trail from the bad storm we had this past week. There were deep puddles we had to dodge and so on...We were running 4.5 miles in and then back out to our car. We were hoping to do 9 miles in an hour and 45 minutes and well the elements of mother nature didn't want us to get that good of a time. We had turned around and were about 2.5 miles away from our car and it started to sprinkle. Fine, I can handle a sprinkle...(heck, I handled a down pour last year at the Country Music Half, well I don't know if I would use the word "handled" but survived.) Then it started to DOWN POUR...we were very unhappy runners at this point. We were FREEZING and my cotton long sleeve tee that was suppose to be just to keep me warm enough was sopping wet and very uncomfortable. We did it though. We survived. We didn't make it in the time we wanted to but we did it and that is all that matters, really. And when I say "We" I mean my best friend Heather and I. But really, you guys should know this by now :)

We stopped by starbucks in our sopping wet clothes, shivering and my Cinnamon Dolce Latte never tasted better!

Week Recap

2011-04-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of myself this week. ~~I usually am a BIG SLACKER during the week~~. First off, Sunday, friend Heather and I went to Radnor Lake for a stroll... it wasn't on our training schedule or anything but it was nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful day!

Monday- It stormed crazy bad, but I did 30 minutes of Your Shape Fitness Evolved on our Xbox kinect.
Tuesday- Ran 4 miles, a little over an hour (not the best but my shin splits were KILLING me)
Wednesday- Rest
Thursday- Got up SO EARLY and did 2 miles on the elliptical in 24 minutes. THAT'S 12:28 MINUTE MILES, PEOPLE! The best ever. Now if only I could transfer that onto the pavement :)
Friday- Allergies acting up and we are leaving for Ohio this afternoon. I'm hoping to get a short run in this weekend in Columbus but I'm going to be hanging with my college girls. Not too much longer until I have completed my 3rd half marathon in ONE YEAR! Who knew I could even accomplish my first one, but 3??

I'm going to post a few of my favorite running things soon! I wish I could add a Garmin but I have to live vicariously through my running friend Heather. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get one for my birthday.

Happy Weekend, Ya'll!

Shin splints, blisters and 12 miles oh my!

2011-04-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

First off, Laura is having a giveaway over at her blog for the Sony W series Walkman...I really want to try it! http://bit.ly/eOuoYL

I overcame the peak of my 3rd half marathon training. 12 miles....I wanted to curse the last 2 miles but I have an amazing friend that kept me going and kept encouraging me. She said "I have to keep you going during training because you are the one who will have to keep me going during the actual race :)" We did part of the Country Music Half course. 2 weeks ago we did our 10 miler and started at Centennial and went the first 5 miles of the course. Yesterday, we started at mile 4 around Belmont and went mile 4-10 of the Half course. It was good but tough. I had really bad shin pain during the first 3 miles but then it seemed to get a little better. After it was all said and done, I had small blisters, more like callouses but they hurt :( We ate several sport beans by jelly belly (they were good!) and one Chocolate Outrage GU! LOVE IT! It is like chocolate frosting! The bad thing was we ran out of water. I am SO grateful for the water stops during the actual race! I also realized that we didn't do a "warm-up/stretch" before we headed out on our miles. This might have caused my shin pain and we had to stop some to stretch. We also had to stop and help a lady with directions. Our time wasn't the best but we both had been slacking all week and didn't do our workouts during the week like we should've. It's our own fault and we learned that we can't do that. We did 12 miles in 3 hours and 5 minutes. We HAVE to get better than that if we want to be under 3 hours.

My goal for the week: TO DO EVERY WORKOUT NO MATTER WHAT!

Have a great week!

Half-Marathon Schedule and a thought..

2011-03-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

Week	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3- Arms	x train	3	3 Hills	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	4x400 IW	Strength	4	3 Hills	Rest	5	Rest	14
3	3-Arms	x train	4	3 Hills	Rest	6	Rest	16
4	5x400 IW	Strength	5	3 Hills	Rest	8	Rest	18.5
5	3-Arms	x train	5	3 Hills	Rest	10	Rest	21
6	6x400 IW	Strength	5	4 Hills	Rest	11	Rest	23
7	4-Arms	x train	6	4 Hills	Rest	12	Rest	26
8	7x400 IW	Strength	5	4 Hills	Rest	9	Rest	21.5
9	3-Arms	x train	4	3	Rest	8	Rest	18
10	3	Strength	3	Walk 2	Rest	13.1	Rest	21.1

IW: Interval workout: one lap hard running, one cool down lap, repeat.

x train: Kinect Your shape fitness evolved, Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels 30 day shred, elliptical, Zumba, Spin class

Strength train: Kinect Your Shape fitness evolved strength workouts, Rec center weight machines.

Hills: run/walk in Wakefield or Wynngate subdivision or treadmill.

Saturday runs: downtown or River park off of concord road

I'm still debating whether or not to retire this blog. I feel like not many people read it and my other blog has the word "Run" in the title, so I have been writing about running also. Please comment if you want me to keep this one up or if you think one blog is enough to keep up with. Checkout http://teachrunlove.blogspot.com for my update on this week's progress. I'm on week 2 for my training schedule.

Training update and a review

2011-01-31T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hey Ya'll! Sorry I've been absent lately..my time has been taken up by my newer (updated) blog Teach.Run.Love. Anyways onto the training recap...

2 weeks ago was a flop..kinda just did Zumba and Kinect fitness games.

Last week was more productive I feel:
Monday: Arms and shoulders work out with a Self magazine pull out.
Tuesday: Zumba
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 5x400 Interval run that ended up being 3 miles total with a warm up and cool down
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 6 miles with friend Heather.
Sunday: rest

I need to do more on those rest days...maybe light walking, a kinect work out or something!

Onto the review: Gu gels and Power Bar energy gel blasts

First off, Gu gels. Heather and I tried out several before the Women's half this past September. We tried them on our last long run of 11 miles. We each had a different flavor and shared them. She had the chocolate outrage and I had vanilla bean.

The chocolate was much better than the Vanilla, in my opinion. The Chocolate Outrage tasted like chocolate syrup. The vanilla had a weird consistency. When taking these, I had to have a swig of water immediately. The Women's Half were providing gu at the 8 mile marker. On their site, they listed the Gu flavors they were going to be passing out and I was excited that the Chocolate Outrage was going to be handed out. Unfortunately, they were wrong and I took the vanilla anyways. I didn't even finish it because my hand held water bottle was empty and there wasn't a water stop close by. I will be trying some different flavors this time around but will probably be taking my own Gu gel in my iftiness belt for future half marathons that I do to make sure I have a flavor I like.

I've also tried Power bar Energy Gel Chews.

I've tried the Strawberry Banana and the Raspberry. I like the Raspberry better, but they are both good! They give you a little boost and between Heather and I, we took the whole pack, which is about 12 or so chews. They remind me of gushers fruit chews for grown ups!

Week 2 of New Training!

2011-01-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

Last week was so crazy because of the snow. Which means lots of treadmill runs=ok for the first few miles..then totally boring!

Sunday Jan 9th-I did an hour Zumba class with my friend Amy! We had a blast!
Monday- Snow day and did 45 minutes of Kinect games (dance central and your shape fitness evolved-arms and shoulders) for Cross training.
Tuesday- Snow day and I played kinect games again..didn't want to trek it down to the fitness room of our townhouse neighborhood.
Wednesday- Snow day- suppose to be a rest day but I needed to do my 4x400 Interval training, so I went down to the workout room and ran all the the times I needed to! I was so tired afterwards but it was such a great workout!
Thursday- was suppose to do 3 miles but did 45 minutes of Your Shape Fitness Evolved cardio kickboxing, nice and easy routine, some gym games, and zen (don't like the zen...so silly)
Friday-Rest day...went back to school and then babysat for the cutest little boy again! Love playing with an almost 18 month old!
Saturday- Friend Heather came down to our house and we went to the Saturn Plant trail to do our 6 miles...we did one lap and much of it was still covered with ice, so we came back here to the treadmills....they were terrible!! I think one of them isn't calibrated or just really old, so they were awful and we decided to only do 2 miles on them and then we finished 3 miles outside in my neighborhood. It was a terrible run.

Stayed tuned for some upcoming reviews on some products that I own and love and book reviews!

Week 1 of new training

2011-01-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

I started out fresh this week on my half-marathon training plan.
Monday- 35minutes cross training with The Biggest Loser Kinect game. It was a wonderful workout. Made me sweat a lot and it was fun!
Tuesday- Ran outside around our neighborhood for a 30 minute tempo run which ended up being more of a run/walk. I ended up going a little less than 2 miles.
Wednesday- REST (aka report card night where I watched 3 movies and did report cards for my sweet little first graders, I had to give them report cards Thursday)
Thursday- 45 minute spin class at the Longview Rec center! I LOVED IT! I am definitely going to get back into spin class. The only downfall to the class that night was the music was up a little too loud and I couldn't hear the instructor very well and since we spin in a dark room with a black light on, it was kind of hard to see her too. Next time should be better!
Friday- Rest. We hung out with friends and played games.
Saturday- Heather and I went to Concord Road park trails and did 5 miles in 1 hour and 24 minutes in 28 degree weather and snowing. It was really really cold but I'm glad we accomplished it. Next time, we will be treadmilling it if it is snowing and that cold! :)
Sunday- not sure yet, probably do some cross training with one of my kinect games. All depends on when we get home from church/afternoon plans and such.

It was a great week so far and I hope to do a review soon!

Welcoming a new year!

2011-01-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

Hello, 2011! You are going to be the best year yet!

I want to first start off by sharing some fitness goals and personal goals!

Fitness goals:
1. Lose 15-20 pounds and tone up/ eat healthier.
2. Complete 4 races this year (2 of which being half marathons)
3. Cross and strength train along with my half marathon training plan.
4. Be able to run more of my walk/run method!

Personal goals:
1. Be the best Christian , wife, and teacher I can be (staying positive, daily devotionals, devotions with Derek daily, getting more involved with our church)
2.Read more books this year. 7 minimum.
3. Keep saving money into our emergency fund and house fund.
4.Cook more healthier home cooked meals.
5. Blog more on this blog and my picture/life in general blog.

Here's to you, 2011! Let the games begin!

Inverval Workout

2010-11-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight was my first experience doing an interval workout. Training schedule says to do a 4x400 with a 400 walk in between the hard run 400. A total of 2 miles. Since I don't have anyone to do a track workout with and since I'm not sure where the closest high school is to my house, I did it on the treadmill. I did it in 29:30! It was a challenge toward the end but I did not give up and I pushed through!

Derek got me an early Christmas present and it is another way I can cross train!!! Check out his review of the Kinect here.

Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely love it! It is so much fun and such a good workout!

I also made a trip to the Nike outlet and Reebok outlet this past Saturday and that post of all the goodies I bought will be coming soon!!!! Be on the look out!

A fresh new start

2010-11-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

I started a new half marathon training plan this week. I am not running another half until late April but I want to improve my time and be able to run more of it, so I want to go through this 12 week training program twice before the Country Music Half.

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	CT	30 min tempo	Rest	3 mi	Rest	5 mi	2 mi EZ
2	CT	4 x 400 IW	Rest	3 mi	Rest	6 mi	2.5 mi EZ
3	CT	35 min tempo	2 mi	3 mi	Rest	7 mi	2 mi EZ
4	CT	5 x 400 IW	Rest	4 mi race pace	Rest	7 mi	3 mi EZ
5	CT	35 min tempo	3 mi	3 mi race pace	Rest	8 mi	3 mi EZ
6	CT	6 x 400 IW	3 mi	4 mi race pace	2 miles EZ	Rest	10K race
7	CT	40 min tempo	Rest	4 mi race pace	Rest	9 mi	3 mi EZ
8	CT	6 x 400 IW	3 mi	3 mi race pace	Rest	10 mi	3 mi EZ
9	CT	45 min tempo	3 mi	4 mi race pace	Rest	11 mi	Rest
10	CT	7 x 400 IW	4 mi	3 mi race pace	Rest	12 mi	3 mi EZ
11	CT	45 min tempo	Rest	3 mi race pace	Rest	5 mi	2.5 mi EZ
12	Rest	4 mi	30 minutes 10K pace	2 mi	Rest	20 minutes	Race Day!

Crossing-training (CT): Cross-training activities allow you to give your joints and running muscles a break, while still working on your cardio. When the schedule calls for CT, do a cardio activity other than running (biking, swimming, elliptical trainer) at moderate effort for 45 to 60 minutes.
Tempo Run: Tempo runs help you develop your anaerobic threshold, which is critical for faster racing. For a 40-minute tempo run, for example, start your run with 5 to 10 minutes of easy running, then continue with 15 to 20 minutes of running at about a 10K pace. Finish with 5 to 10 minutes of cooling down. If you're not sure what your 10K pace is, run at a pace that feels "comfortably hard."
Interval workouts (IW): After a warm-up, run 400 meters (one lap around most tracks) hard, then recover by jogging or walking 400 meters. For example, 3 x 400 would be three hard 400s, with a 400 m recovery in between.
Rest: Rest is critical to your recovery and injury prevention efforts, so don't ignore rest days. Your muscles actually build and repair themselves during your rest days. If you run every day without taking days off, you won't see much improvement. Fridays are a good day for rest, as you'll have run on Thursday and will have your longest run of the week on Saturday.
Saturday long runs: After you warm up, run at a comfortable pace for the designated mileage. Make sure you cool down and stretch after your run. If most of your runs are on the road, and you're not sure how far you run, you can figure out the mileage by using resources such as MapMyRun.com. Or, you can always drive your route in your car ahead of time and measure the mileage using your car odometer.
Sundays: This is an active recovery day. Your run should be at an easy (EZ), comfortable pace, which helps loosen up your muscles.

Credit to http://running.about.com/od/halfmarathonprograms/a/interhalf.htm

For cross training days, I plan to switch it up doing Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred, Spinning Class, Zumba, and strength straining. If you have any other good ideas for cross training, I'd love to hear suggestions.

Also, I need to purchase cold weather running gear. Specifically under armor leggings, a a few shirts/fleece, gloves.

That's all for now...I'm going to be better at this!

Sweaty Band Review!

2010-10-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

My first review ever! I bought a sweaty band at the women's half expo in Nashville. I was a little skeptical at first because I've tried all kinds of head bands and I guess I'm just blessed with silky hair and head bands like to slide off. I just had to get this one though because it had the official logo on it for our race! I tried it out that night when friend Heather and I went on our last 2 mile easy walk 2 days before race day. It stayed really well to my surprise! Therefore, I decided since I haven't mastered the side french braid to hold back my (longer than I want them to be) side bangs, I opted to wear this beauty:

The inside is made of a velvety material and absorbs sweat and stays in place!Can't really see it well on me right now but I used it tonight on my run!

And it's upside down...oh well! I tried!

You can get sweaty bands of all different patterns, colors, glittery ones, ones that have sayings, etc. I really want these:
They also have a hot pink glittery one that I want but couldn't find it on the site. Anyways the thin bands are only $15.00 and the Thick bands are $18.00. I think they are totally worth it!

Click here to check out Sweaty Bands!

OR
check them out on Amazon.com :

Women's Half Marathon-Nashville Recap

2010-09-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Half Marathon #2= Check! It's hard to believe that I've completed 2 half marathon's this year. From a girl who hated to run and now I love to train and run! Anyways...The Recap:
This all started the day that Women's Running Magazine announced that Nashville was going to be a new location for their Half-Marathon. I immediately signed up for a discounted price, hoping to talk my friend, Heather, to do it with me. After some begging ;), she agreed and finally we were off to talk about training. To make a long story short, I got tendonitis in my foot at the beginning of the summer, so my training was put on the back burner. This really made me lose motivation, therefore I didn't train my best during the week but about 8 weeks out from the race, I focused on my weekend runs. So the day comes, September 25th, RACE DAY!!
We got up at 4:30 am, ate a Luna Bar and a Banana, drank lots of water, had my pre-race poop...(it's a must!!), and we were on the road. We got downtown around 5:45 or so and we got a parking spot pretty close to the country music hall of fame (start/finish).

This is what it looked like when we got to the start/finish. Heather and I had a warm up jog and a good stretch. We used the nasty port-a-potty's and headed up to corral 3.
The sun was starting to show itself when we were walking up to the corral. I wore a walmart danskin top, sports bra from TJMax, nike dri fit shorts, and drymax socks. I had my Fleet Feet Mizuno wave inspire 6's on and I was ready to roll! I also bought an ifitness double pouch belt (which I am going to review here in a couple posts) along with a fuel belt palm water bottle. I also sported the Women's Half Marathon official sweaty band, which was amazing!
My bestie and I headed to our corral! I LOVED that our bib's had our names on it, for the mere fact that strangers and volunteers from the race would cheer us on by name! It was great! For my recap of the course/how I did: The course was WAY harder than the Country Music Half course. Many more hills and tough hills close to the end. I didn't necessarily get the "runner's high" this time but I didn't hit "a wall" either, which I was very happy about. I was so glad I could be Heather's cheer leader and help her to keep motivated and not give up! I wanted her to finish this more than me! We tried out Gu for the first time the weekend before the race and only liked the chocolate....go figure that they advertised for it and didn't have it on the course. But I took the vanilla with major swigs of water and I really do think that it helped keep me going. We did about 4 power bar raspberry chews during the race, water and Gatorade and the gu. I really liked the live music but I thought there was going to be more bands according to the race video and all the music stops. It was so empowering to see all these women of all ages and sizes! We all had the same thing in common: We are strong, powerful women and we can do this!
Although I didn't beat my first time (3:10 at the CMM), I am very pleased with my time of 3:17 because of how hard the course was and that me and Heather finished this together!
YAY!!! We did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cute finishers breakfast by publix and a cookie cafe :)
LOVED the metals and love the charm that I can wear on a necklace to remind me of all my accomplishments. I have created a monster out of Heather and we are addicted to Half's :) Our main goal is to do the Disney Princess Half in a couple years. We want to do the Country Music Half this spring and this one again next year!

Not too much longer...

2010-09-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

I have been worse at updating during this training than I was last time and I apologize for that! I want to share all my running goodies that I have purchased so far and review them on here but I want to wait until I hit up the Women's Half Marathon Expo next Thursday. You'll just have to wait until maybe next Thursday night or after the big race!

Couple week re-cap in short:
3 Saturday's ago-friend Heather and I planned to do 8 miles. We went to Radnor lake and it apparently had some problems during the flood because there were gravel places every so often on the road, so we did a quick up and back (2miles) and then headed over to River Park off of Concord Road and finished up total with 7.5 miles.

2 Saturdays ago-I did 6 miles by myself around my neighborhood and on the treadmill

Last Saturday- Friend Heather and I met at River Park do 10 miles. The night before I woke up in the middle of the night with an excruciating charlie horse in my right calf. I tried to stretch it out after I woke up for the day. We warmed up and stretched and it felt a little better. We were going strong and every so often I had to stop and stretch it out. By the time we got to around 8.5 miles, Heather wasn't feeling well and my leg felt like it was about to explode. We decided that we could push through during the half but we probably shouldn't push it before the race. My charlie horse finally went away by this Monday! I've done 2 30 minute runs this week despite my poor allergy condition :(

I have a fun weekend ahead of me and so glad tomorrow is FRIDAY!!
*Friday night-babysit Addy Miller :)
*Saturday-Hubby and I will head to Chattanooga, TN with friends to go to Ruby Falls and a gun show...(their choice)
*Sunday-Heather and I will run our last 8 mile run before the big race day!

Recap of the past couple weeks...

2010-08-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago I trekked out to the Kedron Road trail and did 6.3 miles by myself! I then realized that I can't do long runs by myself or I will not be self motivated! There was a lot of times where I just wanted to walk back to my car and throw in the towel.

This past weekend was the first time my friend Heather and I ran together. We left her house a little before 7 and drove to Radnor lake...we went down the "trail (road" and back. The path must have been washed away from the flood in the spring and it was rough. Heather's new garmin :) told us that down the road was only a little over a mile, so doing close to 8 was not going to be fun considering the conditions and we were definitley side tracked by all the wildlife...6 deer...so we got back in the car and headed to the river park trail off of concord road. We finished up our 7.5 miles..not the best time, since I can't even remember what it was but we had fun and pushed each other...mainly she kept pushing me but ya know....

Tonight, I did a 30 min run on the tredmill while watching my guilty pleasure: The Bachelor Pad.....

This week's schedule:

Tomorrow: 4:15-5:00 Spin Class
Wednesday: 30 min run
Thursday: easy walk
Friday: OFF
Saturday: 8.5 miles (don't know how I'm going to do this since my running buddy is leaving me for OHIO...BOO)
Sunday: OFF

Next post is to show off my new running goodies :)

It's been a long long time...

2010-08-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

I promise to start writing more. :) Since the last time I posted, I've swam for exercise, Derek and I got road bikes for our 1st anniversary and have been road biking and we went on vacation to Charleston, SC and stayed on Folly Beach.

While on vacation I had the awesome privileged of running/walking on the beach in the mornings! I did 2.5 miles the first morning and the other times, I causally walked (sometimes at a fast pace) for about an hour or more each morning looking for sea shells!

Two days after we got back from Vacation, my husband Derek plays church league softball and during the game he and another friend collided and he broke his left arm (both bones) and had to have surgery two days after he broke it. He has plates and screws in his arm and developed Fracture Blisters. He starts physical therapy this coming week. I have also started a new school year this past Thursday and love my little first grade friends :)

This morning I did a 3 mile run and really loved it. It was hot but good. Not too much longer until the Women's half and I need to get my butt in gear for runs during the week. Please visit my other page for pictures from my vacation and anniversary: tiffany-lifeinpictures.blogspot.com

Life gets in the way...

2010-07-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

So sorry friends! I'm a bad updater in the summer!

Well my training plan for last week was put on hold because my Great Grandmother of 101 years old passed away and Derek and I went to WV to go to the viewing and funeral. I've decided to start the Jeff Galloway training program but instead of walking/running, I'm going to bike, elliptical or swim it for now until my foot cooperates.

His plan goes like this: Monday-30 min run, Wednesday-30 min run, Thursday-easy walk and Saturday is your mileage runs.

I also got these puppies for my b-day!!! Which was yesterday :) Big 23...I got to go to Fleet Feet and get custom shoes for my feet...I also go this topical ibuprofen cream for my tendonitis!

So for training this week, I did 3 miles in 15 minutes on the bike, 1.1 miles on the elliptical in 15 minutes on Monday and today I did 5 miles in 27 minutes on the bike. Tomorrow I plan to do an easy walk in the morning, go to the pool at the rec center for a couple of hours and then get ready for my Birthday night out!!! We are going to Mafiaozo's 12 South in downtown Nashville and then The Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar! I'm so excited to go out with my hubby and great friends!

13 Weeks left to train

2010-06-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

My next half marathon (Women's Half-Nashville) is 13 weeks away. My foot still hurt a little bit when I walk, so I am going to do some alternate hard core training to get my body in shape so when I can pick up and walk/run again, my foot won't hurt. I want to try to follow the Jeff Galloway plan this time but I didn't start it in time because of my foot. So I'm going to tweek it a little bit.
Plan for this week:
Monday- Swim for 30 minutes. (4 times freestyle up and back, 4 times back stroke up and 4 times breast stroke up and back) then I did once up and back the kicks of freestyle, back, breast and fly. I also walked 4 laps around the pool. Then in the evening, hubby and I went on a 2.2 mile bike ride and played in the pool.
Tuesday- Bike for 30 minutes in the workout room. Swim for 30 minutes. (Probably the same routine up there but maybe add a lap to the kicks).
Wednesday- Swim for 30 minutes. Try elliptical, if my foot starts hurting with that, then I'll do bike again.
Thursday- Jillian Michael's minus the jumping jacks and jump rope and butt kicks (hurt foot) but I will try the rest. Swim for 30 minutes.
Friday- Swim for 30 minutes.
Weekend- REST!!!

Hubby and I are doing something exciting for our anniversary! We wanted to get each other something that we can use and have fun with together. We are getting road bikes (maybe me a hybrid bike, not sure if I would like a road bike yet) and a bike rack for our SUV so we can take our bike to paved trails to go on bike rides together! I am very excited about this!!!

I promise to try to post more often now. I just haven't been feeling like it since I've hurt my foot!

Tendonitis....I hate you!

2010-06-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

For almost 3 weeks now, the top of my right foot by my 3 last toes has hurt when I walk, sometimes at night, and sometimes when I'm not doing anything at all. I went to the doc last Thursday because I was worried it was a stress fracture and I wanted to take care of it before it got too bad. I had x-rays and everything...no stress fracture, but tendonitis. So, I had to take steroids, rest it, elevate it when I could, and wrap it with an ace bandage to compress it. I guess they are right when they say "It's going to hurt worse before it feels better." because that is what it feels like....

So this puts a damper on my training for my next half marathon in September :( I was getting all pumped up to start training again and now this happens. So doc's orders were to swim laps to get the exercise in. I started that yesterday. I had the townhouse complex pool all to myself. I did 4 laps of freestyle, 2 laps of breast stroke and 2 laps of back stroke to start off. I rested for a bit and floated in my pool raft and then I used my raft to act as a kick board and I did the legs for freestyle down, breast back, butterfly down, back stroke back. I did this twice up and down the pool. I was definitely tired after that.

Hopefully it won't take 4 weeks for this foot to heal :(

Back on the Wagon...

2010-06-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting into a groove of exercising and and conditioning again before I start my second round of half marathon training! Call me crazy, but after all the pain and many miles ran/walked, I'm signed up to do another half-marathon this year. I posted last week the course map and my friend heather and I drove the course. It is going to be tricky!!!

Here's my plan for the next three weeks before full blown training begins:
*Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred- EVERYDAY!!!
*A mixture/my version of Jeff Galloway's conditioning program (not the full 8 weeks, but 3 weeks and I tweaked it a bit)

I am going to start Jeff Galloway's half marathon training program this time around. Last time I used this training program and it really focuses on mileage but this time I want to focus more on endurance and time.

I am loving this time being out of school and resting/relaxing!

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a month.......I know I've been slacking big time! With the end of the school year winding down and all of the end of the year stuff going on, I have been so busy! Plus, I kinda got burnt out on exercising and training after the half marathon. I guess that is pretty usual though.

Anyways, I'm back on track. Today was day 3 of my 30 day shred and I'm doing this continuously!
I think next week I'm going to start my half marathon training program to get pumped for the Women's Half in September.

P.S. The Women's Half Course is BRUTAL!!!

Day 1 of my 30 day shred!

2010-04-29T17:49:00.000-07:00

First off, hello to all my wonderful readers! I had to take a few days off after the big race this past weekend to recoup and re-energize! I'm planning going on a 4 miler with my friend, Heather, (who is doing the women's half with me in September) on Saturday.

Today though, I finished day 1 level 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred DVD. I have been wanting to switch up my workouts basically because I haven't seen much weight loss and I'd like to loose a couple pounds. Anyways, my friend Heather and I watched the first exercise of this DVD on Sunday to see what we were getting ourselves into....our talk was SO wrong! We watched the first exercise and thought...eh that looks like a piece of cake......tonight while I was doing it...I thought differently!

Jillian definitely makes you work our butt of (literally) in those 20 minutes of torture! I will thank her for it someday when I have a rockin body...in the mean time all I can think about is wanting chocolate after this workout....

Country Music Half Marathon Re-Cap

2010-04-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

WARNING: In this post I will be telling it like it is. I'm apologizing before hand for some graphic stories! This post is also filled with pictures!

Sister and I carb loaded the night before at their house. We got up at 4:30 AM (apparently that wasn't earlier enough!!) My Race Number!

We left by 5 and thought the last shuttle from the finish left at 6 am to go to the starting line. I 24/ I 40/ I 65 split was grid locked a mile before the split. Luckily I had my iphone handy and mapped another route that took us to LP field. We got their past 6 and there were tons of people still waiting for shuttles.

Lines for the Porta Potty's were RIDICULOUS!

We stood in this line FOR-EV-ER!

Starting line!!! We started at 7:29 or so.

GOOOOO!!!!!

Look at all those people! 30,000!!!

At about mile 4-5 or so, I finally go the "Runner's High" and ran for I don't know how long and then it hit me and I came back down! The fueling stations were great. Had Cytomax (or Cyto-cleanse, as I might put it later) and water at almost everyone and LOVED the oranges and bananas.
Around mile 8 or so, struggling but still trying to smile!!

Sorry this one is a little blurry! Belmont Church Praise Band was AWESOME and so encouraging!

Run Kenzi RUN!!

I'm Proud to be an American!!
The guy on the left carried that American Flag the whole time and the solider on the right wore full army fatigues/backpack for the whole race!

Mile 11 right before the DOWN POUR!!

This part was the toughest for me. Kenzie would reach out her hand to help me along when we would run in spurts...I was in a lot of pain by then. I almost teared up on the last picture from the right because we had almost completed a half marathon!!!

WE DID IT!!! 3 hours 10 minutes and 27 seconds later! I completed my first half marathon!
Hubby, Heather, TJ, Jared and Lindsey were there on the final stretch with signs and cheering us on!!! It was so encouraging and great to see and hear them!!!!! Thank you all for coming out and supporting us!

On the way back to Kenzie's house....took us FOREVER to get out of the parking lot.

* Side note* Here comes the brutally honest part. Skip over if you don't want to read! My youngest brother, who is a cross country/swimmer/ and track star, always told me that a "pre-race poop is totally necessary" well, I didn't have to at Kenzie's and didn't have time before the race. I was fine until about mile 8 or so. The Cytomax (cytocleanse, as I like to put it, was kicking in) and I had to pee so bad. I didn't want to stop so, I just kept going. The more I tried to run, the more it felt like I was going to have an accident. I tried to run as much as I could though. We crossed the finish line and it was pouring the rain so we ran to our car and pretty much sat in our parking spot for 30 minutes. We moved a little bit and I decided I couldn't hold it anymore, so I got out of the car, took an umbrella, and my phone and went to the Ramada inn across the parking lot. I got down to the bathrooms and there was a line. Finally got into a stall and let it all out. We finally got back to Kenzie's and I used the bathroom again, ate waffles and bar-b-cue nachos (random I know. but SO good), used the bathroom again. Took an ice bath for 20 minutes............................
After the ice bath, took a short nap/relaxed on the couch where our friend Leah, gave my legs and feet an awesome rub down!!!! and used the bathroom again. I took a shower and got ready to go out with friends for dinner. We ate at Maggiano's and it was SOO yummy. We had dinner with Jared and Lindsey, Steve and Emily and Amber and Brendan. We had so much fun! We ended up crashing at our friend TJ and Heather's house and when we got there....you guessed it, I used the bathroom again. I pooped 5 times in 1 day...and it was regular poop. That doesn't seem normal.

Today, I soaked my feet in Heather's foot bath with Epsom salt and if felt good! I am still in tons of pain in my hips, quads, and hamstrings. I was in pain all over yesterday but my feet and knees feel O.K. today. My toes had and still have big blisters on them the size of TEXAS! I wish they would heal and go away. I've already drained them 3 times....ughhhhh
Thank you for all your encouraging words and prayers these last few months!! They have been a blessing and even though the after-math blows, it was so worth it and will be doing many more in the future!!!

I can now say that I have done a half marathon!!!!!! Country Music Half Marathon-it's been real! Women's Half marathon-here I come in a few months!

Expo Night

2010-04-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday night I headed downtown with Hubby to go to the Country Music Half Marathon Expo to pick up my stuff and look around. I met my SIL there and hubby dropped me off at the door to find a parking spot. Well I would've been able to enjoy it more if he actually parked instead of driving downtown and waiting for me. There was so much to see, seeing that I am a first timer. I enjoyed seeing all the booths but wish there would've been more freebies. I also wish I could've snagged some products to review on here...we'll just have to be patient I guess! I did get a demonstration of The Stick product and man was it nice! Hubby was rushing me to be finished so I didn't quite get to see everything but that's okay. There's always one to look forward to in September and this time I won't bring the hubby :)

KEEP ME IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!!! Hopefully I won't be swept up in a tornado tomorrow and am not completely miserable running/walking in the rain....4 am is going to come early. Tonight, Derek and I are headed over to SIL and BIL house for a spaghetti/pasta carb loading experience!!!! and to watch the episode of 24 that we missed on monday that they DVR'd :)

Happy Running (in the massive storm) Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon Runners/Walkers! See ya on the flip side :)

P.S. I will have my sweet Olympus Water proof Camera with me and will be documenting EVERYTHING!!!

3 days to go till Race day!

2010-04-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in forever because just about the time I sit down to do it, my hubby wants me to watch 24 (not like I don't want to watch 24 ;) and he says I need to pay attention to it the whole time...aka not playing on my computer. So here I sit, during my planning while the kiddos are at P.E. typing my little heart out! It's nice to have some peace and quiet during a loud day filled with 6 and 7 year olds.

Anyways, back to my training stories. Saturday, Derek and I were in WV visiting my family and in for a wedding of friends we went to college with. Saturday morning, me, my brother adam (a cross country/track guy), our golden retriever (Tanner) and Derek mapped out our 5 mile loop. Derek rode a bike with us. Our track was 3 neighborhoods in all. Adam made me run up hills and run a lot in general..He says "I've gotten get you in better shape for this race" haha...not going to happen the week before little bro! We did 5 miles in about an hour and 15 min or so...not the best but we did have the dog so ya know....

I took Sunday and Monday off...suppose to run yesterday but lost track of time so my punishment was to get my sleepy butt out of bed this morning at 6 AM and do an easy 3 miles. This is the first morning that I have not hit my snooze button in a LONG time...I mean A LONG TIME!!!!!!!!!!! I was proud of myself! I checked the weather and it said it was 38 so I nixed the running outside thing and headed to our complex workout room! (Good thing I have that!) I did 3 miles in 25:59!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOO HOO for me! Plus I also got to watch Saved by the Bell...one of my all time favorite shows! No wonder why I don't see it on anymore...it come on at the butt crack of dawn.

Alas...I am out for a girls night to see The Last Song with friend Heather and maybe friend Lindsey!!! Tomorrow Derek and I are headed to the Half Marathon Expo to meet sister and pick up our racing packets/goodie bag/gear stuff...

Yikes! Getting nervous/excited....hoping that the weather man is wrong and God blesses us with great weather!!