Update

Wow. I'm really sorry that I let this blog fall by the wayside. I slacked off on one week of training after my last post and, even though I resumed my training, I never resumed the blog posting.

The good news: I finished the ten-miler! My champion chip said I did it in 1:56:48. For some reason, Nike + is not letting me show you the run graph.

The good-er news: I registered for my first marathon! It's the 2009 Walt Disney World Marathon. It looks like a great marathon to start with...we get to run around all of the Disney parks, look at the characters, and everyone gets a medal at the end :) My training for that will probably start to gear up in mid-summer.

Training for and running this race was a really wonderful experience for me, and I'm sorry I didn't do a better job of keeping you posted.

Long time no post!

Hello blogosphere! Sorry for the long time without contact. I missed you horribly. In fact, I'm afraid of my love for you. I'm a bit too wiped out to make this entry interesting, but I'd like to update you before the radio silence gets too out of hand.

I did manage to stick to my workout schedule for this week...although I was thrown off by my inability to find my Tae-Bo tapes. Instead of doing pilates, I wussed out on x-training this week. I'll take another look for the Tae-Bo, but if I don't find them I'll just stick with pilates.

I've been doing well with my running this week. I did add two extra runs this week of about 1.5 miles each. The Friday run was lovely...although I unfortunately ended the run in front of a grocery store where I promptly purchased my weight in protein.

(Friday's run):



Today was my long run...I managed to make it for 3.89 miles!! The plan was only to run 3.5, but we somehow ended up about seven or eight blocks from my apartment by the time Nike + told me I could stop running, so I figured I'd see if I could run the whole way. I was especially proud of myself because I managed to run the whole time - even up a small hill for several minutes!



My longest run yet!! Go me!!! Afterwards, I made myself a plate of steak, eggs, and toast...it was deeeeelliiiiightful.

I did this run with A.M. again; although I'm wondering if it's a bad idea to do this run with someone else. I don't run as fast as most people, I feel more motivated when I'm listening to music, and I don't have the breath to carry on a conversation while running. I'll have to think about it.

A post about pie day is coming...

Third Week of Training

The initial plan for this week was to run 2 miles on Wednesday and Friday, and then 3 on Sunday.  When I wrote out my schedule, I guess I didn't anticipate that I'd be running more than two miles at this point, so I've upped the run to just half an hour...whatever that equals.  Today it turned out to be around three miles.

Monday: 10 minutes pilates No pilates - but a short endurance-building run; 1.5 miles

Tuesday: 8 minutes Tae-Bo Replaced with pilates

Wednesday: 30 minute run

Thursday: 8 minutes Tae-Bo

Friday: 30 minute run

Saturday: Rest/Pie

Sunday: 3.5 mile run 

Miles this week: ~12.5

Once I get a new scale that WORKS (what do you MEAN, I'm back at my starting weight?!  impossible), I'll post my weight progress.  Really, though.  IKEA scales are worthless.  It's the scale, guys.

Also, I realize how pathetic the 8 minutes of Tae-Bo sounds, but it's a really, really intense eight minutes.  Trust.

The goal is to do another short endurance-building 1.5 mile run at some point before Sunday.

Wooohoooo! Best run so far!

I didn't make any New Year's resolutions this year - I think this race encompasses most of what I'd want to resolve anyway - but for some reason I still feel like I can check an item off of my non-existent list.  Today's run, scheduled for 30 minutes, was my best run ever!  (Lance Armstrong even told me so - via my Nike +!)

If there was ever a day that was going to test my commitment to sticking to my schedule, it would be today...it was something like twenty degrees - not including wind chill.

I started out feeling like I was running faster than normal, but I figured I'd get tired and slow down within the first few minutes.  I tend to start with a lot of energy that I can't quite sustain.  Much to my surprise, I was able to keep up my pace for the whole run!  Not only did I KEEP my pace and run my longest run yet (slightly), but I ran my fastest average mile yet.

I'm so excited!!

Breath control has been a problem for me in past runs - I find myself winded before the run comes to an end.  For whatever reason, I didn't have any difficulty at all breathing despite the sub-freezing weather.

The biggest problem for this run was some tension in my calves.  When possible, I tried to run on the grass next to the sidewalk, but it didn't make a huge difference.  Regardless, it was just mildly uncomfortable and not debilitating.  I'll keep an eye on it in case it becomes recurrent.

I wonder if the fact that I did this run in the evening factored into my enhanced performance?  The Cherry Blossom is in the morning so I'd rather keep running on the earlier end, but being able to run off the frustrations of the day was really satisfying today.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's!  I spent mine in NYC - not doing any pilates, but I did get a short-not-supposed-to-exist run in on Monday.  I went to a vegan restaurant and had an AMAZING coconut tofu-cream pie that I will try to replicate this weekend on rest/pie day!  Stay tuned...

Oh, incidentally, I think I'm going to change my powersong from Rooney's "When Did Your Heart Go Missing" to Dogs Die in Hot Cars' "Godhopping," which is just a great, peppy song.

Godhopping - Does this work?

(once the link opens, click to refresh if you get an error message. it WILL work!)