Back in Action

So I have been the worst blogger ever, it's been over a month since my last post.  Part of the reason is because I have really been slacking with my running.  I did my first official race on October 20, 2012.  I had originally signed up for the 10K, but I didn't feel prepared.  So when I went to pick up my bib, I switched to the 5K.  My friend was doing the 5K, too, so I figured she wouldn't be waiting around forever for me to finish my race.  I hadn't run in a week or two before the race so I wasn't expecting a great time.  My time was okay, just over 34 minutes.  It was definitely fun running on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.  And I got my first medal for running, which was a great experience!

In training news: my friend decided to make up a challenge of running 3 miles a day in November.  Knowing that I have do start actually doing my long runs, we decided that I could just do a total of 90 miles in November.  I did three miles on the first.  Yesterday I did 5.25 miles!  It was cold and I didn't walk at all!!  I was so proud of myself.  I kept up an awesome pace (for me), of about 10:30.  I definitely could have gone longer, too, but it was getting dark and super chilly.  I definitely need to start wearing my gloves (which I just found last night while I was organizing my closet) because I could barely move my thumbs when I was finished.
I think I've given up on the gym and kickboxing.  I haven't been there since the beginning of August.  It's just too late at night (7:30-8:30) for me to want to get back up once I relax after work.  I'd probably like to have the treadmill available once we get some snow, but I'll just have to figure something out.  I'm obviously still going to need to train.  I will still have my membership until December, though, so we'll see what happens.

In personal news:  I met a great guy. :)  He came with me to my cousin's wedding on October 27th.  He fit in pretty well with my family.  And he loves Disney, how awesome is that!  He actually did a college internship program there a couple years ago.  So I think I've convinced him to run a Disney half with me at some point.  He would have done the Princess with me if it was a mother/daughter trip.  So right now we're shooting for Disneyland half in September.  That way I could get my Coast to Coast, as well!

Slight Freak Out

Although I thought I had mentally prepared myself that I'm going to run 13.1 miles in February, seeing posts about Galloway Training Programs starting next week freaked me out, just a little.  That means in 22 short weeks I will be flying down Florida with my mom.  I'm debating which program I want to "follow"... the beginning 22 week program or the 19 week experienced runner: To Finish in the Upright Position program.  I put follow in quotations because I generally adapt the programs to fit me and mix it slightly with a Hal Hidgon program I found.  I wouldn't call myself an experienced runner, but I can do the first few weeks of the beginners program without a problem.  I'll probably just go with the flow and see how I feel next week.  Sometimes field hockey makes it harder to run, depends how sore I feel Tuesdays after playing 2-3 games between Sunday mornings and Monday nights.

On a different note I started to make the tutus for that weekend!  I made mine for the 5K.  Next is my Halloween costume/half marathon outfit.  And then onto my mom's for the 5K.  I also have to find someone to make shirts for my mom and I.

Did that just happen?

So after looking on my MapMyRun app I realized that I hadn't run since August 24th!!  Two and a half weeks off made my Tuesday run a real struggle.  I was shooting for 3-4 miles, the first mile and a half, maybe a little more, went great.  After that I just fell apart and I gave up at 2.85 miles.  I know I should have pushed through, but that time off really hit me.  My thighs were killing me on Wednesday so I took the day off.  I was debating a run yesterday since it was warmer than it has been, but a friend told me I should just go, so I did.  I am so happy that I went!  It was hot, but I ran 6.2 miles!!! I was aiming for 4, then 5, then a 10K to prepare for next month.  The last half mile was really difficult, but I pushed through.  My time wasn't amazing, about an hour and nine minutes, so about an 11 minute pace.  It was actually just a thirty second increase in pace from my longest run (7.1 miles), so I guess it isn't too bad.  All I'm thinking is that this is really possible now - the 10K and half marathon!!  I'm one happy girl today.

Major Slacker Here

With the end of summer camp and the start of the new school year.  I feel like I've been so busy.  This extends to my blogging and my training.  I have not been to the gym in a month!  It started out with doctor appointments, a class to take for work, and other odds and ends.  Then I just got extremely lazy and once you get out of the swing of things it is so hard to start back up again.  I thought a friend was on board to go last night with me, but I didn't hear from her until it was about time to leave for kickboxing, and at that point I was over it.  I've been running once or twice a week, most of the time.  I did sign up for the 10K in October!  I realized I really need to get back on track since that's in a little over a month.  I think I'll be okay for that, though.

We made it to the first round of playoffs in field hockey.  We had to play the first place team, so I knew it was a long shot, but we did surprisingly well and were winning the entire first half.  It was a good season.  I'm signed up for 2 leagues for the fall - indoor on Sundays and outdoor Monday nights.  That should be interesting.  It starts this Sunday, with a double header!

I am so excited that it is almost fall!  This is my favorite time of the year.  Not only is the weather awesome but everything is pumpkin - coffee, cookies, pie, I love it all!  I also can't wait for Halloween, I have to start making my costumes for work.  I have never been pumpkin picking or carved a pumpkin, so my goal this year is to definitely do that!
Along with fall comes football season is here and I couldn't be happier!  I spent Sunday on the couch watching all day.  I also made dinner (this does not happen often) for a friend's birthday - Hawaiian BBQ Chicken in a crock pot with rice and broccoli and funfetti cupcakes decorate as footballs for dessert! :)

10K?

Ran Monday night... just shy of 2.5 miles without walking!  I was shooting for three miles, but knowing that I hadn't run in over a week I kind of knew that wasn't going to happen.  I was still surprised by the not walking thing.  I skipped kickboxing for this, but I'm okay with that.  Now I just need to keep this up!

Yesterday we had our last field hockey game of the regular season.  We lost 0-1.  I blame the grass, it wasn't cut and so thick.  You could barely see the bright orange ball in it!  I still think we have a good shot of making playoffs next week.  Top 8 teams make it and right now we're in 8th and just a couple of teams play tonight.

I think I'm going to sign up for the Atlantic City 10K today.  My friend just signed up for the 5K last night, so we can drive down together and she'll just have to wait for me to finished.  But I think that would help my nerves just I bit.

The green smoothies taste better than I thought they would.  I'm not sure if they're helping any, but I'm going to give them a month to see if they work.

Weekend Runs

Maybe posting about being a slacker got me motivated.  I rarely run on the weekends, but this weekend I ran Saturday and Sunday!  Saturday I had a family party at the shore, and of course I ate entirely too much.  After everyone left I laid down for a half hour and then told myself that I needed to get my butt in gear.  I forgot how nice running in Brigantine was, that's where my running journey started 5 years ago.  It's a different atmosphere and the people are so friendly.  I did 3 miles.  Sunday I woke up and felt like I could go for a run again, but I only brought one outfit with me.  When I got home and did that lazy thing around the house then forced myself out the door around 7:00PM.  By that time I had already lost motivation but I knew I'd feel better if I went.  I only did 2 miles, but I told myself it was 2 more miles than I would have done!
I got a huge blister on my heel, so I skipped this morning.  It was painful doing kickboxing in just my socks last night.  But none-the-less, I have field hockey tonight, which is always a great workout because I do a lot of spirits.

I'm debating signing up for a 10K in October.  I feel like it would ease my nerves a bit about the race in February.
I also saw that The Color Run is coming to New Jersey (about 1 1/2 hours away from me, though) in September.  Thinking about that, too.

Slacker

This week I have been severely slacking on my training.  Monday I went to Kickboxing.  Tuesday I set my alarm for my morning run, but slept right through it.  I couldn't fall asleep until almost midnight, so that's why. I had a field hockey game Tuesday night, though, and I did a lot more running/sprints than I usually do.  Yesterday I missed kickboxing, and felt horrible about it.  I had dinner with my parents, we had business to discuss.  My car decided not to work when I went to leave work yesterday, so I had to get a ride home (I only live a minute or two away) and my mom had to pick me up for work this morning.  Again I decided to sleep through my running alarm this morning.  I'm feeling so tired this week.  I don't know if it's the crazy heat wave we're having, but I'm not falling asleep as easily.  My uncle came to the rescue and fixed my car today, so I'm definitely going to the gym tonight.  Maybe I'll force myself to hit the cardio room before class... we'll see.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Today is the third Friday the 13th of the year, I think that's awesome!  I was never a superstitious person, I do have a black cat after all!  What makes this Friday the 13th even better is that it's the start to my birthday weekend!  I had a horrible birthday last year, so I'm just trying to have fun this year and relax.  I'm heading to my shore house with a couple of my girlfriends tonight.  A couple more are joining us just for the day
to go to the beach tomorrow.  Then we'll head to AC for a fun night out.  And a relaxing beach day again Sunday.  Once I get home I'll have a family dinner and I requested a blueberry and peach cobbler as my cake.  YUM.

I'm going to try my hardest to run tomorrow morning, but I told myself it was okay if I didn't.  I did really well with every other day this week!  But somehow I gained weight again.  Please tell me I'm getting toned and in a few weeks it'll show!

First Week is going well!

Kickboxing last night.  3 mile run this morning.  I'm on track so far!  I stopped just shy of the three miles this morning because my new ear buds were driving me crazy!  They kept sliding out of my ears once I was halfway through the run and would barely stay in once I was a few minutes away from finishing.  My friend said that she prefers in "in ear" ones so I thought I'd try them out, so I bought them for a couple bucks at TJMaxx.  No big deal, but I guess I'll just stick to the usual iPhone ear buds.

Monday night I had an awesome dinner.  I found this recipe on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog.  Banana Split Pancakes for one.  Her nutritional information says it's about 190 calories for it all, but I'm sure I didn't use the "healthy" version of something and added more calories.  Regardless it's not bad at all for 3 decent sized pancakes!

While I was eating pancakes I had Turkey Spinach Meatballs in the oven.  I got the idea from back when I made Spinach balls for a pot luck at work, and I bought ground turkey this week.  So why not combine them.  Googled a recipe and cut it in half so I could use half the meat for tacos.  The turned out amazing.  Last night I made dinner for my friend/gym partner.  Pasta in tomato sauce, these meatballs, and string beans.  She loved the meatballs!  Maybe I can cook after all!

Planning a vacation is a little crazy when you've never done it before.  But I know it'll all be worth it in the end!!  Still can't believe I'm registered for the Princess half!! :)

I have to catch up on my Photo a Day..

Today's the Day!!

Well it is registration day for the Princess half, a day I know a lot of us have been waiting for!

I am so thankful to have a wonderful, amazing, and awesome mother who has graciously decided to pay for my registration for both the half and the 5K!  My grandma was in town for a week and she's been in and out (mostly out) of work and knows that it was hard on me.  Once worked calmed down from all the usual morning craziness, she told me that she had talked to my dad and they decided that she was going to do this for me.  I love her with all my heart and I'm so happy that she's going to Florida with me and participating in the 5K!

I've been debating with the idea of doing a race beforehand.  Not only is there the possibility I could be bumped up to a different corral because of the time, I also think it'll help the nerves subside a bit.  As much as I would love to do the Hershey half in October, it's not practical because of the travel distance.  So right now I'm really considering the Atlantic City marathon race series in October.  It still gives me plenty of time to train.  Now the question is whether to just go for the 10K or try the half!

This is also the first week of my training!  I'm going to try and follow it the best I can!  I love Jeff Galloway, but I'm going with Hal Higdon's training program.  12 weeks.  I can do this!
Yesterday was a Stretch & Strengthen day so I went to Kickboxing.  Amy and I also inquired about getting a personal trainer, so we'll see the cost of that.
Today was a 3 mile run which I did this morning!  I have my first field hockey game of the season tonight.

Back to Reality

So I had a nice Fourth of July.  I went for a late morning run, I didn't expect to do well since I haven't run in a couple of weeks, but it wasn't too bad.  I just wish I had brought something to drink because it was hot outside!  I went 2.21 miles and walked about a mile home because I couldn't take the heat, but it was something, right?  I went over to my parent's house and laid in their pool for about an hour.  Then showered and went back over for dinner.  This morning feels like Monday morning all over again.

I've looked through a couple of training plans since I've decided to run the half, and I think I finally found one I like.  The main thing is, I don't want to give up kickboxing for running, I want to be able to do both.  This one happens to have cross training or strength days on the same days when I take kickboxing!

I've been really good this week with my diet and exercise, so tell me how I've gained weight, and 2 pounds at that!?  I'm going to tell myself it's muscle.  Tomorrow is the weigh in for my work's Biggest Loser, part of me is hoping that number today is wrong and tomorrow will be back to normal.
I'm trying to eat much healthier than I was before, shooting for close to clean eating.  Do you think that could make my body act weird and retain excess shenanigans?

But in better news - less than a week until the sign up for the Princess half!!  I was talking about it with a friend yesterday, I'm just hoping she can come up with the money for the trip (she's in grad school).  At dinner my mom and I were discussing it as well.  We're deciding on what days to go down there because she hasn't been in about 15 years, so we definitely want 3 or 4 days for the parks.  Would you guys suggest going to the parks before or after the race?

Did that just happen?

Monday I was planing on going for a run after work.  It looked so dark and scary outside and the weather channel said there was a 50% chance of rain.  I decided to skip my run (I know, I know..), and of course it didn't rain!  Just my luck.

So yesterday I got home and was ready to hit the road!  I wanted to try a different route and I wasn't sure how long it would be, but I knew it had to be around 5 miles.  After the last run with my friend, I knew I could do at least three miles without stopping so that was the goal.  The first mile was pretty easy.  Mile two was a little difficult, the mile-barrier I had to push though!  Mile three was pretty easy, so I decided to keep on trucking.  I went for 5 miles straight.  Let me say this again... I ran 5 miles without stopping!  My pace started out at 10:20 something, and every miles went up around 10 seconds.  I was determined to finish with under an 11 minute pace - 10:58!

With today being National Running Day, I know I'm going to have to get out there and do some kind of run.  I'm thinking of keeping it short since yesterday was a long run.  There's also the Philadelphia Rock n Rock half marathon coming in September.  And if you sign up today you get $20 off!  I'm really considering it, but I have to make up my mind asap!

Good Workout Day!

One of my oldest friends is home from Grad School, for a little while at least.  She's kind of a runner and every time she's home we say that we'll run together, but never do.  Yesterday she convinced me to go with her.  I was nervous, because although she says she's not fast, I didn't know if that was true.  She only wanted to do 3 miles, which she said she does in about 32, so that made me feel a little better.  We did a warm up walk and caught up for a little, then off we went!  I knew she didn't take walk breaks, and was determined to give it a try (I used to run 3-4 miles straight back last year).  When we got close to my house, she said we were a little short and wanted to do the courts in our neighborhood, but I was done.  I pushed myself at the end to go faster because I thought we almost finished.  But you know what - 2.61 miles with no walking breaks sounds fantastic to me!
She told me that her and some of her friends are planning to do the Philadelphia Rock and Roll half in September, so I may do that with them!  And then her friends want to do the Disney full, but I'm trying to convince her to do the Princess half with me, and work up to the full maybe the next year!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Yesterday I really thought I was definitely going Kickboxing and that I'd try for some kind of run beforehand.  Whelp, that plan changed - for the better, I would say!  I hit the pavement after work, only expecting 3 or 4 miles.  I DID 7.1!!!!! Forrest Gump must have taken over my body because that is crazy for me!  I have never ran more than 4.5 in my life!  Maybe not running for six days did me some good.  I also hit my fastest mile time to date - 9 minutes and second mile the pace was still about 9:15.  Then for miles 3 to 7 my paces stayed relatively the same around 10:15 - 10:30.  That, I think, made me the happiest.  I didn't slow too much adding on!  This run made me fully aware that I CAN DO THIS!  I just ran a half of the Half Marathon, and I know I could pull the rest out of myself! :)  I'm so incredibly happy and proud of myself right now.

Does this happen to anyone else...  Lately, when I run my fingers and hands get swollen.  I've only noticed it the past couple of runs.  At the end of the run yesterday, it hurt a little bit to make a fist.  And that's why I skipped kickboxing, I didn't want to hit the bag and hurt my hands.

Here We Go

So yesterday I made the decision to not go for a run.  It was so windy outside, weather.com even said the wind could cause power outages.  I know I was just making excuses, but the last time I ran in 'high' winds it was just a horrible run and I felt like I wasn't going anywhere!  I know that if it was a race day I wouldn't let that stop me, but right now I have the choice.
I needed to go food shopping, though, so I guess it worked out.  And what did I see while walking into Sams Club... a display of Disney DVDs.  Score!  Since it was Sams, they were reasonably priced, too.  I was toying with Beauty and the Beast and Tangled.  I mean, I could have just gotten both, but I'm trying to save money to do these races.  So I went with Beauty and the Beast, a classic, and it'll go back into the vault sooner or later.  I watched it last night while I was reading Uglies.  And they added a song?!  Why do they feel the need to change the classics.

Back on the grind today.  I will go for a run.  I decided to start a training program now instead of in a couple of weeks.  I made up a weekly schedule according to Jeff Galloway's training programs listed on the race website.  I listed both "To Finish in Upright Position" which is 20 weeks and "Time Improvement" which is 23 weeks on my schedule.  That puts me completing the program at the end of August or beginning of September!  Then I'll have 4-5 months to improve before the race!  I know I'm going to end up tweaking the program to fit my personal preference.  The time improvement plan does 800s instead of long runs some days, so I'll adjust that as I see fit.  I have a friend on board training with me.  She's on the Beginner Runners program, so we're not doing the same mileage, but we're still running 'together'.  I still need to read Galloway's book to get more tips and tricks.

Recording Workouts

When I ran back in college (2006) I never recorded mileage or times, I had a general idea but never kept track of it.  Back then, I did it more to relieve stress and to get into shape.  I didn't even own a fitness watch, I just put in my ear buds and ran.  A year ago (4/11/11), when I started running again, I got a little notebook and started writing down miles and times.  I found this to be a great motivator!  I loved to see my mileage increase or my time drop!  I ran for two months and then we had a crazy heat wave and just stopped.  I ran a couple of times in the fall.  But now I'm gearing up for the long haul!

I got an app on my phone (iMap My Run) that records the miles and times for me!  And then it even tells me the pace I was running at.  Could it get much easier?  Only downside, is that I can see where my mileage was a little off before from doing it on MapQuest or driving it in the car.  But I love that I now how that accuracy that I can rely on!

Jeff Galloway suggests a little more detail:
Date
Morning Pulse
Time of run
Distance covered
Time running
Weather
Temperature
Precipitation
Humidity


Comments
Walk-run frequency
Any special segments of the run (speed, hills, race, etc.)
Running companion
Terrain
How did you feel (1-10)

I think I'm going to not do as much detail, but definitely use some of his suggestions!

You Can Do It

Yesterday I got Jeff Galloway's book, You Can Do It, in the mail!  I'm so excited to start his training plan in a couple of weeks!

I browsed through the book yesterday.  The run-walk method is a genius idea.  I was always under the assumption that everyone that participated in races ran the entirething.  On a good day I can go 4 miles without stopping, but then I feel like I want to fall over.  So adding walks on purpose will definitely help.  I’m very intrigued with the nutrition chapter.  I like to say I have a pretty healthy diet, but I’ve been slacking a lot with that lately.  I want to know how to fuel my body properly.

For the next couple of weeks I’m just going to continue running as I usually do.  When I feel more comfortable I’ll start with his weekly training plan.  I’ll start at week 6 or 7 because that’s the mileage I’m currently at.  So in about 30 weeks I should be able to run 13.1 miles.  Let’s hope this works.