Tag Archives | training

Countdown to 10K

By on September 1, 2010 in running, training, training schedule

Okay, it’s a double-post kinda day, just cuz I’m feelin’ it!

Actually, I just flexed my ankle and realized that for the first time since Sunday, it’s feeling pretty good!  My first thought was, let’s go running!  My second was, I will stay off it (in terms of running or other high impact activity) for one more day to be sure.

So that got me thinking…there are only 11 days until my 10K!  And I so want to run, but I also want to be smart about my training.  So I’m putting together a tentative plan for the days between now and September 12, and I’d really appreciate your feedback on it.  Am I doing too much?  Not enough?  Should I switch things around?  Or is it perfect just like me hahaha kidding?

Here goes:

Click on it to view the full-size schedule.  Lay it on me peeps – what do I need to change?  Am I over-thinking-to-the-point-of-obsession on this??!

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Running Update and May 2010 Training Schedule

By on May 5, 2010 in Uncategorized

Happy humpday, friends!  I hope the first half of your week has been great.  What can you do to accomplish your goals with the last few days of this week?

It’s been a bit since I’ve done a running update, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity, since I had to create my May 2010 training schedule, too.  Here it is:

The adjustments I’ve made are as follows, with explanation:

  1. Sunday off, long run on Monday.  The reality of my weekends is that I spend most of my time with family and friends and my husband.  It’s easier for me (thanks to a wonderfully flexible schedule) to fit my long run in on Mondays.  I chose Mondays because most races are on Sundays, and it shouldn’t be a huge adjustment for me to do a race on a Sunday instead of a long run on a Monday.  It’s more important to me to spend time with the people I love on Sundays than to have a perfect running schedule, et voila.
  2. Fartleks instead of speedwork.  The basic idea behind speedwork is to run several short, fast intervals in order to improve your cardiovascular health and to increase your overall speed and running fitness.  A typical speedwork workout might look like this: 10 minute warmup; 2 minute speed interval; 3 minute jogging recovery; rinse & repeat 5-7 times; cool down; go home.  A fartlek is basically a more informal speedwork workout.  Instead of having a pre-planned, structured workout that you follow, you insert speed intervals when you want, run as fast as you want, and run as long as you want at that speed.  I realized that fartleks will be more fun AND will allow me to listen to my body and energy level more, so I’m excited to use this approach instead of traditional speedwork.
  3. Saturdays I’ll continue alternating between an “off” day and strength training.  The truth is that Saturdays are usually my most active day overall – that’s when I usually hang out with my sister’s kids, clean house, do laundry, go walking with friends, etc.  So although it might seem weird that I’m placing two “off” days next to each other, and occasionally it might actually even turn out that way, usually it won’t.

All of these adjustments are meant to make my training work around my life and keep my training fun, fresh, and interesting.

My running update is just that all is well – I’ve actually done most of my planned runs with only a few exceptions.  Today (I’m writing this Monday) I did a 35 minute “long” slow run on the treadmill and it was great.  I got in a zone with my breathing and even though I sweat like a mo’ fo’, it was an awesome run.

I do need to invest in some warm weather running pants and experiment with headbands to keep the sweat out of my eyes – any ideas for me?  How’s your running going?  Any tips for me?

And for those of you who need a little encouragement in the running department, check out this great post!

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Monday Run Report

By on April 12, 2010 in Uncategorized

Happy Monday, y’all!  I hope you’re all rested and ready to meet the challenges of the week ahead.  To start my week, I want to recap my run from yesterday.  As you may remember from this post, Sunday I was scheduled to do my “long” run, which is currently 3 miles.  I decided to get down with my bad self and run a 5K, which is 3.1 miles.  The setup: it was sunny, windy, and about 55 degrees.  I ran on Alki Beach, which is flat and paved (and also insanely packed when the weather is nice), and where I have run a couple of actual 5K events before, so I know the exact route for that distance.  Here’s what it looked like:

Only imagine this scene with a bazillion people milling around!

My intention for this run was to go really slow and steady.  And even thought I was super excited to run in the beautiful sun and just to be outdoors, I was also feeling kind of low energy.  So I gave myself permission to stop and walk pretty much anytime I needed to.  Then, as I started running, I remembered what I shared with some friends a couple weeks ago about how the first 10-15 minutes of a run, for me, are always the hardest.  Once I get through that part, running almost starts to feel easy.

So my next “bargain” with myself was to just get to the halfway point – then I could walk if I wanted.

Every time a great song came on my iPhone, I caught myself speeding up and consciously slowed down – I really wanted to run at about a 15 minute pace.  (That’s roughly the pace I’ll have to run the 10K in order to finish within the 90 minute time limit.)  Just after the halfway point, I ran into a friend from my old book club, which gave me about a 2-3 minute break since I stopped to chat and coo at her new baby.  Then I started running again with the mindset that if I just wasn’t feeling it, I could walk if I needed to.  I wasn’t worried about speed – I just wanted to finish 3.1 miles and see how it felt.

Well I’m sure you’ve probably guessed by now that, with the exception of that short social break, I ended up running the whole 3.1 miles without stopping.  The last 90 seconds were the toughest, but by then I figured I could do just about anything for 90 seconds so it would be silly to stop running then!  And my time as I crossed the “finish line” of my 5K?  45 minutes on the nose.

How did I feel?  During the run I felt great!  Just after, I was tired, so knowing that I was meeting a friend for a walk and dinner about an hour later, I gave myself an hour to sit and relax knowing that I wouldn’t get too stiff since I’d be walking again soon.  I felt a little twinge in my right knee towards the end of the run, so I’ll be watching that this week to see how it feels with my other workouts and shorter runs.  Today, the morning after, my hips are a bit sore but otherwise, I’m just feeling slightly stiff and slightly sore – exactly how I should feel after back-to-back, challenging workouts.

The best part about my run yesterday was following through on my training plan.  Keeping promises to myself is something I struggle with, so every kept promise to myself is like gold.  The next best thing was knowing that all I have to do in the next 5 months is double what I did yesterday, both in distance and in time, and I will be able to finish the 10K without a problem.  THAT is definitely within my reach.

Running always provides me with ample time to think, too, and I’ll be sharing some of my thoughts from yesterday with you all this week as I write through them for myself and get them down “on paper.”

How was your Sunday?  What did you do this weekend to step towards your goals?

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Coming up for Air

By on March 31, 2010 in Uncategorized

I can’t believe how busy my life is.  Caveat – if you have kids, just ignore all of this.  Every time I think my life can’t get busier, it does.  I can’t even imagine how this would feel if I had little ones!

Work

We are converting to a new practice management software at work.  In the long run, the software will increase our efficiency and save us money.  In the short term, it’s a nightmare.  Everyone is required to sit through the training, which was supposed to be 3 hours per day, 2 days this week.  Instead, it’s been 6 hours both days, and there will likely be a third.  I’m frustrated for a number of reasons:

  1. I’ve used this software before, and 80% of the training is stuff I already know.  It’s annoying and inefficient to have to sit through all of that just to pick up a few nuggets of information that are new to me!
  2. One colleague is perpetually suspicious of and, quite frankly, inept with technology.  This individual asks the same questions over…and over…and over again.  Turning a 3 hour session into a 6 hour session.  Someone stab me please?  In the eye?  With a pencil???
  3. In the normal course of my work day, I get up at least twice per hour to go to the bathroom, fill my water bottle, or just move around.  Sitting for 3 hours straight without a break KILLS my back and my calorie burn.
  4. I’m working 10-12 hour days AT MY DAY JOB.
  5. I’m going to have to work 60 hours this week to bill 30 and that just pisses me off.

Sleep/Getting up Early

I’m doing a bit better here, but getting up at 6am has been harder the last couple days.  Today I turned off my alarm and slept in until 6:50!  I felt guilty and groggy and annoyed with myself, so I’m going to get to bed earlier tonight than I have been.  I’m aiming for 9:30 in bed, 10pm lights out.  And tomorrow I’m setting a second alarm across the room again!  I want to be prepared for the 21-day challenge that starts tomorrow!  Are you joining me in that challenge?

Workouts

My workouts are okay but not 100%.  Actually, I take that back.  The workouts I’ve done have been balls-to-the-wall and 110% effort. Last night we were watching The Biggest Loser and my husband asked me if I thought I’d be a big cry-er if I went on the show.  I didn’t know the answer to that, but I do know that if I were on that show, I would leave everything out there when it came to my workouts.  And working out on my own should be no different.

The less-than-stellar part of this report is that I haven’t fit in all of my workouts.  Sunday I opted for a much-needed day of rest with my husband instead of doing my long run.  No problem; I planned to do my long run on Monday, which is scheduled as an active rest/rest day.  Instead of taking my early-afternoon break after the training session as planned, I ended up in training all day and at work from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.  When I left, I went to the grocery store, shopped, came home and cooked 3 meals to keep on hand, and went to bed.  So, no long run in my first week of 10K training.

I did have a kick-a$$ workout yesterday morning!  I did 40 minutes of strength training circuits and then knocked out a 2 mile tempo run.  That was hard and I was sweating like nobody’s bidness, but it felt great.  That kind of effort on a regular basis is what will get me where I want to go.  So, no perfection here, but if you were expecting that, you need to put down that [insert hallucinogenic substance here] and step away…

Food

This continues to be my biggest struggle.  Sweets have snuck back into my diet, so today I’m bringing down the hammer and going sugar-free.  Mostly, anyways – I am having an almond butter and low-sugar jelly sandwich later!  But no chocolate, no candy, no sweet-sweets, if you know what I mean jelly bean.  No!  No jelly beans, either!  Last night I left work at 8pm, which meant I was the last one here.  I put the candy bowl inside a drawer, so it won’t tempt me today.  Someone will inevitably pull it out again later, but I figure every little advantage helps, right?

So.

There you have it.  Life in all its normal busy crazy full challenging stressful beautiful mess.  That’s what I’m dealing with now – how about you?  What’s going on in your world?  Challenges, victories?  Do tell.  I need to get out of my own head, friends.  :)

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Updated 10K Training Program & Other Random Stuff

By on March 24, 2010 in Uncategorized

Hello again!

Y’all are so great – thanks for the wonderful comments on my 10K training and on being so busy this week!  I will have time to respond to you all this afternoon, but I wanted to get this post up first.

I’ve got an updated training plan to share with you, and many of the adjustments are in response to your comments.  Some of the changes I’ve made include:

  • Adding an option second rest day – Mondays will be cross-training OR active rest, based on how my body feels.  Active rest for me includes walking, a leisurely bike ride, yoga, stretching – anything where I’m moving but  not doing strength training or high-impact cardio.
  • I’ve moved the run days around so I don’t have two run days in a row.  This should allow my body to recover more completely from each run before the next.
  • I’m considering, but haven’t done it yet, adding a few taper weeks where I run a shorter distance on my long run day, to allow for extra recovery that week.  I don’t know if I’ll formally add this in to the written plan or just take it as it comes and adjust, again, based on how my body feels.  I might also taper a bit in the 2 weeks before the race, and run 5.5 the Sunday before instead of the full 6 miles.  We’ll see.
  • Zumba is still in the mix!  But I decided that Zumba is not really a part of my 10K training.  It’s something that I LOVE and will likely do more often than not.  But I had to take it out of the “training” mix in order to set up my week properly with all the elements of a good training plan.  So I’ll still be doing Zumba most weeks, but it’s not on this schedule.

Without further ado, here it is:

Again, it looks very small so click on it to enlarge if you want the details.

Baby Stuff

In other news, my new nephew is as adorable can be, and we got the best surprise yesterday when my grandmother flew in from Detroit so she could meet him!  I am super close to my entire family and love my grandmother to death, so needless to say I’m happy she’s here.  It will make my workouts a challenge for a while, but it’s well worth it!

Speaking of Workouts

You know how I said I’d start doing morning workouts here?  Well it turns out, working out in the mornings is easier than I thought it would be!  Now, don’t get all excited on me – after all, this report is after exactly one day of waking up at 6am to work out before work!  And I was working myself up into a tizzy about it all, too.  Then my friend (who is a hotass and happens to be uber-smart) smacked me upside the head (figuratively) and told me to suck it up and get over myself.  So I did.  And it feels good!  I won’t make any promises to you, but I am making this promise to myself – I’ll be getting up at 6am tomorrow again.  My workouts suffered for about 10 days after I sprained my ankle and my sister went and had a baby, but it feels great to be back in the saddle!

The Elephant in the Room

And that would be…eating.  I’ll be honest and say I’m still struggling here.  I’m not gaining weight, but when you burn nearly 3K calories per day on average, not gaining weight is cold comfort.  My calories are ranging from about 2K per day to 3K at the high end, so I should be losing something, even if it’s ever so slowly.  I have super good days (like yesterday) when I avoid sugar almost completely, or choose one indulgence and let that be that.  I also had one day where I ate an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  So, back to not keeping that in the freezer.

I know it might get old to read about the food struggles here, but the truth is I’m writing this blog for me and not you.  And it’s working, actually, in keeping me accountable – even if only to myself.  (Read that last sentence with a slight hint of disbelief in your voice…because there’s a part of me that’s surprised that it works that way!)  For example, after lunch today, I was considering not tracking because I knew my lunch was high cal.  Then I came here to start writing this post and it just felt wrong to be posting all this honesty to all the world if I couldn’t even look my lunch in the eye (something about that sentence is so wrong but I love it!) and be honest with myself.

Conclusion

So the bottom line is multi-dimensional and comes in bullet form:

  • I’m scared and excited to start my 10K training;
  • I love my new nephew;
  • I’m still struggling with food but will keep struggling instead of giving up;
  • I know one day all of this will feel a teeny, tiny bit easier and that gives me hope;
  • Tough love from a friend is a blessing and really helps me out!

I hope you’re all great!  What have you been up to?  What are your challenges this week?  How are you PLANNING to work around them?

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