10/29/13

Off to a good start!

I had a great yesterday at the zoo with these guys (shhhh- don't tell the big kids! They had to go to school, bahahahha):

 

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And a cutie picture of Lydia with her tree, year 1- she's clearly overjoyed:

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I am feeling really good with how this first week back to running is going.

Sunday's 5 miles felt really good. I did have some calf trouble, but nothing some additional stretching can't fix.

Monday, I took an active rest day- yoga, and some core exercises. My abs hurt so good, but please don't make me laugh!

This afternoon, I took Miss Lydia out for a run in the BOB. The temp was perfect for me, but maybe a little chilly for her, her hands were freezing! But she seemed happy enough. 3 miles in 30:01; 10:10, 10:06, 9:45- just over 10:00 minutes per mile average. But check out those negative splits! Boom! Followed by yoga.

I am planning a 5 mile run in the morning at 10k effort- which without the stroller should be about 9:20 or 9:30 pace. And then follow up with yoga and maybe some planks.

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I'm excited to have signed up for Eat, Run, Repeat's Pile on the Miles Challenge. Click over and follow Monica and join in! My goal is running or walking 100 hundred miles for November. What are you going to do to keep active in November?

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I hope you guys are having a great week!

 

10/27/13

A week of rest. Some fall fun. A new plan.

First, a huge shout out to friends Lucas & Jana for rocking their half (halves?!) Saturday! Maybe one day we can run one together!

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I have taken full advantage of this week of rest and ran a whopping 5 miles, and walked 2.61 miles. Ha!

It was more than just resting my body, since I didn't run the race super speedy. I also needed to rest and rebuild my mind. I feel like I'm ready to jump back in this week- and started the morning off with yoga and then after services and lunch; an easy 5 miles felt good.

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Since yesterday was the last Saturday before Halloween, AND costumes aren't allowed at school anyway- I planned for the kids to make pumpkin shirts.

We started with hot chocolate (which, of course, I didn't get pictures of since I was tracing the pumpkins onto their shirts while they with sipping).

<love her smile>
<traces of hot chocolate on the face of concentration>
<Lydia causing trouble>
And the finished projects:
Mom win: overhearing Noah say to Madison, "this was the best day ever".
Check back later in huge week for photos of 3 cuties wearing their shirts. And costumes- momma's got some work to do yet on those...
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During this week of rest, I thought about what I wanted my goals to be during the next few months while I'm inbetween training schedules. Working on speed is probably top priority as far as running goes, especially if I want to run a sub-2 half with Elizabeth in April. I think I also want to focus on strength. And a lot of easy miles too. So, I have come up with this schedule:
Each day will start with 8 minute Yoga for Runners by Yoga Yin:
 

Sunday: 3 easy miles

Monday: alternate between 10 miles and Yasso 800s- I'll start with 4x800 and work up to 8x800, at a goal of 4 minutes per repeat followed by a 4 minute recovery (I read that you can use the same Yasso marathon philosophy with a time goal for a half marathon but double the time essentially)

Tuesday: active rest - strength exercises I can do in my living room

Wednesday: 5 miles at least 10k effort (speed will be slower when pushing BOB)

Thursday: 3 easy miles and strength exercises

Friday: 3 easy miles

Saturday: Tempo - 15 minute warm up and cool down, I'll start with 3 tempo miles and work up to 8 miles

What do you guys think?

 

10/21/13

The Cincinnati Half Marathon 2013

Saturday morning, my dad and I ran the Cincinnati Half Marathon.

 

I'm very happy with the choice of this little hometown half marathon for my first. And so glad my dad decided to run with me.

The weather didn't really cooperate. I started raining around mile 4, and it seemed that each mile that ticked by, the rain continued to get worse. About 3 minutes after we crossed the finish line, it started pouring. We didn't have to run in it, but we did have to walk back to the car in it. If nothing else, it will be a memorable first half marathon.

Our finish goal was 2:15. We finished a strong 2:14:24. Well, my dad finished a few tenths of a second faster- couldn't let me win :) ha. Our average pace was 10:16 per mile. Looking back at my Runkeeper stats, we kept the pace pretty even- even at the end (ignoring the building blocking gps signal very fast mile 2 and very slow mile 3). We kicked our effort up a notch but the extra effort really only allowed us to keep pace. Those last miles are hard ones.

And so this finally went on my van (a birthday gift from the hubby man):



<found on amazon>

What's next? Oh, I'm so glad you asked! The Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon, baby! Who's in?!

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I can't help but smile when I think back to the me from 6 months ago. Six months ago, I started C25k- aka I couldn't run more than 1 minute at a time, and 369 miles later, I just ran continuously for 2 hours and 14 minutes. It's been a full 6 months. Remember when I was on week 5? The week where you run 20 minutes with no walking, ha. It kind of makes me laugh that it psyched me out!

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What's up for this week?

Rest! Maybe a few easy 3 mile runs. Some yoga for sure. Constructing a plan for the time until I start training for the next half marathon on January 8th. I've got some ideas, and I'm excited to share them once I get it all worked out. A hint? Sure! It will include more than running!

 

10/17/13

Race anxiety & phantom aches?

T-minus 34 hours until race time. I was fine (really, I was!) until this happened:

 
But this made it better:
 
Oh, and then I saw the weather for Saturday.
<maybe it'll change, right?!>
 
Hopefully, I can keep my nerves at bay and have a good run. After all, it's just another long run right?! Just me, my dad and 1200 of our closest friends.

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Last week, we added a BOB to our family. It's pretty much awesome.

<Miss Lydia being shy with her cutie piggy tails, I think she likes it>

I ran with it last Thursday for the first time, and it was great- it added time to my pace, but that was ok, it was so light and easy to maneuver.

I thought it would be fine for this weeks easy runs. So Tuesday, Lydia and I headed out. About the half way point (1.5 miles) and my calves, they didn't hurt really, but got really tight. So, I've been stretching them like mad and going light on them (no running), crossing my fingers they are back at 100% for Saturday.

My question is, are my aches real, or race anxiety playing tricks on me?

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And I'm happy to have you back in my life coffee friend.




 

10/13/13

Where has October gone?

I can't even believe it is October 13th. October has gotten away from me.

We're down to the last week before the Cincinnati Half Marathon. My training runs have gone really well the last few weeks.

As a recap:

- on 9/28, I ran 13 miles with my dad in 2:21:42. This was an experimental run: I ran with a bottle of water, and I spaced out my fueling to miles 5, 8 and 11 with a swig or 2 of water. I drank very little other wise. This seemed to work, I finished strong. And no puking :)

- on 10/7, I ran 10 miles in 1:43. This was a weird run. My phone died at exactly half way. So I ran the last 5 miles with no music. Not something I plan to revisit. Pretty sure I said "I just have to get back to the car" about 70 million times. But I was pretty happy with my ending time, which ironically my average paced turned out to be the average pace I want for the race this weekend.

For this week:

Sunday: I ran 3 miles in 27:17.

Monday: 10 miles, holding a 9:45 to 10:00 pace for the first 5 miles and a 10:00 to 10:15 pace for the second 5.

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: 3 miles

Thursday: 3 miles

Friday: 3 miles, probably walk 2, jog 1.

Saturday: race day!!

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The kids are rocking school. We are very proud of both of them.

I went on a field trip with Noah's class to a local pumpkin farm. We had such a good time. I had a great group. Except Noah went to jail :)

 

And what about this awesome view on the hayride?

 

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Madison got her braces off last week, this was a big day! She looks so old!

<ignore the yucky glue flakes everywhere!>

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And a post isn't complete without a picture of Lydia:



<grouch face at its finest>