Don't get excited. Just because I updated about D1 AND D2, and now I'm blogging about D3 DOES NOT MEAN I WILL BE A DAILY BLOGGER ALL CAPS OMG.
Because I can't handle that kind of pressure, clearly.
But anyway. So today was day 3, which meant a 2.5 mile easy run. I decided to mix up my route and run through the neighborhood. INSANE HILLS. Well, normal hills I'm used to and then 2 INSANE hills. RunKeeper said it was 2.46 miles at a 12:57 min/mile. But DailyMile said it was 2.54 miles at a 12:33 min/mile.
Now it's time to rest up. Possible yoga or hiking over the weekend and then the real training begins!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Treadmill N00B
So. I was looking at this handy treadmill pace conversion chart to figure out what I should set the treadmill to when I attempt my 2.5 mile run tonight. I was feeling pretty defeated from my run on Monday, wondering why I felt like I was overexerting myself running on the "easier" treadmill.
Then I noticed the the pace conversion chart had different, higher paces based on the incline. I was running on a 1% incline, so instead of running a 12 min/mil pace, I was actually running 11:44. No wonder it felt harder!
So then I found this handy dandy calculator and figured out my correct pace (based on equivalent effort or something like that...math). Here's my converted pace for Monday's run (26:01 min, 13 min/mi, 1% incline).
I feel much better now. I'll slow down tonight.
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W1D2: Yoga
I guess since I'm already blogging today I may as well recap yoga last night. It was great to be back, and it was definitely needed. Laurie REALLY worked on the hips for most of the practice which felt great. I struggled with some of the vinyasas since my arms haven't had to work like that in a few months. So physically, it was an awesome workout.
Mentally though, I could not concentrate. I was very distracted and stressed out and I couldn't really let it go. I'm not sure why or what happened.
Since we're going to Cashiers this weekend AND Laurie will be in Cashiers this weekend, I'm crossing all of my fingers and toes that we might be able to do a practice up there. She has an amazing studio space that fits about 4 or 5 people. If it doesn't workout though, I'm looking forward to next Tuesday.
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So that's 2 days out of 154 done. That's a good start, right? :)
Then I noticed the the pace conversion chart had different, higher paces based on the incline. I was running on a 1% incline, so instead of running a 12 min/mil pace, I was actually running 11:44. No wonder it felt harder!
So then I found this handy dandy calculator and figured out my correct pace (based on equivalent effort or something like that...math). Here's my converted pace for Monday's run (26:01 min, 13 min/mi, 1% incline).
I feel much better now. I'll slow down tonight.
---------
W1D2: Yoga
I guess since I'm already blogging today I may as well recap yoga last night. It was great to be back, and it was definitely needed. Laurie REALLY worked on the hips for most of the practice which felt great. I struggled with some of the vinyasas since my arms haven't had to work like that in a few months. So physically, it was an awesome workout.
Mentally though, I could not concentrate. I was very distracted and stressed out and I couldn't really let it go. I'm not sure why or what happened.
Since we're going to Cashiers this weekend AND Laurie will be in Cashiers this weekend, I'm crossing all of my fingers and toes that we might be able to do a practice up there. She has an amazing studio space that fits about 4 or 5 people. If it doesn't workout though, I'm looking forward to next Tuesday.
---------
So that's 2 days out of 154 done. That's a good start, right? :)
Monday, May 21, 2012
Training Plan: W1D1
Don't let the title fool you. I have no intention of blogging every single day of my training. I'm going to try to do weekly updates at least, and then blog particular training days when I feel like it. It just so happens that today...I feel like it.
So today I ran 2 miles on the treadmill in 26:01, avg pace 13 min/mi. I'd run 5 mins at 5mph, then walk for 1-2 mins at 3.5-3.7 mph, and repeat. Not great, not even by my standards. I thought treadmills were supposed to be easier. It wasn't even a mental challenge to stay motivated today. I really think, and I'm not trying to make excuses here, that the treadmill must not have been calibrated correctly. I was sweating buckets after 5 minutes with the speed set to 5mph on a 1% incline. I can run a mile at an 11+ min pace no problem. Color me confused.
Anyway, regardless, I did the first day. Tomorrow, God willing, I'll make another mighty return to yoga. Pretty excited about that. I haven't been in months, but it's something I absolutely love.
Anyway, that's it. I just wanted to vent about the treadmill. If it's not wrong, if I really was overexerting myself at a 12 min/mi pace...that confuses me, but I'll take it. 26 minutes of pure sweat ain't nothing to gloss over. The end.
So today I ran 2 miles on the treadmill in 26:01, avg pace 13 min/mi. I'd run 5 mins at 5mph, then walk for 1-2 mins at 3.5-3.7 mph, and repeat. Not great, not even by my standards. I thought treadmills were supposed to be easier. It wasn't even a mental challenge to stay motivated today. I really think, and I'm not trying to make excuses here, that the treadmill must not have been calibrated correctly. I was sweating buckets after 5 minutes with the speed set to 5mph on a 1% incline. I can run a mile at an 11+ min pace no problem. Color me confused.
Anyway, regardless, I did the first day. Tomorrow, God willing, I'll make another mighty return to yoga. Pretty excited about that. I haven't been in months, but it's something I absolutely love.
Anyway, that's it. I just wanted to vent about the treadmill. If it's not wrong, if I really was overexerting myself at a 12 min/mi pace...that confuses me, but I'll take it. 26 minutes of pure sweat ain't nothing to gloss over. The end.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Where do we go from here?
Alright. So the 5K is officially conquered, after over a year of trying. The next logical step is to attempt a 10K, I would guess. Hal Higdon's Novice 10K plan seems to be the right fit for me. If I stick to my plan, I'll complete it by 7/21.
Atlanta is pretty hot in mid-July, not great for racing 6.2 miles. There's the obvious Atlanta favorite, the Peachtree Road Race, but aside from that 10Ks are slim pickings. I don't have any plans to register for one at the moment. Instead, as soon as I finish that training, I'll jump into half marathon mode, as I attempt to run the Athens Half Marathon again, to benefit the summer favorite, AthFest.
Basically what it boils down to is that I've created a 22 week half marathon training plan. I'm going to work at it for about 6-8 weeks before I commit to running the half. By week six I'll be running 5 miles, something I wasn't able to do last year. If I can get that far, I feel like I'll be ready to commit. If not, I'll continue running for fun and training for a 10K in the fall. I don't want to set my sights too high and get burnt out too quickly like I did last year. I'm trying to be more realistic. We'll see how to goes. For now, here's my training plan.
So wish me luck, I guess.
Atlanta is pretty hot in mid-July, not great for racing 6.2 miles. There's the obvious Atlanta favorite, the Peachtree Road Race, but aside from that 10Ks are slim pickings. I don't have any plans to register for one at the moment. Instead, as soon as I finish that training, I'll jump into half marathon mode, as I attempt to run the Athens Half Marathon again, to benefit the summer favorite, AthFest.
Basically what it boils down to is that I've created a 22 week half marathon training plan. I'm going to work at it for about 6-8 weeks before I commit to running the half. By week six I'll be running 5 miles, something I wasn't able to do last year. If I can get that far, I feel like I'll be ready to commit. If not, I'll continue running for fun and training for a 10K in the fall. I don't want to set my sights too high and get burnt out too quickly like I did last year. I'm trying to be more realistic. We'll see how to goes. For now, here's my training plan.
So wish me luck, I guess.
Brookhaven Bolt 5K Recap
Well. The big day finally came and went. And it was awesome. But let's go back to Friday night, first.
Kate and Ward came into town around 6:00, just in time for dinner! I made your standard pre-race spaghetti meal, and we drank a some wine and had a grand old time. We were joined by my best friend, Kristy, who gave us lots of encouraging words in lieu of her presence at the actual race.
Once Eric came home, he and Ward set about making signs to inspire us along the course.
I drank a few glasses of water and went to bed around 10:30. Kate followed suit shortly after, but the boys stayed up until close to 1:00, perfecting their race day signs.
We were all up and out the door by 7:15 Saturday morning. Once we arrived, it was a short walk from the MARTA station down to Bolt-central. Kate and got our bibs in no time, and decided to hit the Porta-Potties before the race. This is a small, local, neighborhood oriented affair, so there were only about 1200 participants. However, felt like 4 or 5 Porta-Potties weren't nearly enough.
Anyway. We had enough time to catch back up with the boys, joined now by Eric and Kate's sister, Lilli, and drop off our things. We lined up and waited for the starting gun. Kate asked me (again*) how hilly the course was, and I reassured her that it was pretty gradual uphills, followed by some lovely downhills. The worst part of the race is at mile 3, right before the finish, there's a pretty steep uphill.
The starting gunshot or buzzer or whatever it was happened and we were off. Kate and I kept with each other for all of 3 minutes before I realized I was going far too fast to maintain. I slowed down and moved to the right, trying to focus on my breath. When I hit mile 1 (after a pretty steep climb) I felt pretty good. Good enough that I wanted to keep going, but I knew I had to take a walking break. I wanted to finish strong, so I had to hold myself back at the start. I walked for about 30 seconds, and then sped up again.
I came to the water station and decided to drink about half a cup. Another walking break (and did I mention another hill?). Sped up again until I hit mile 2. I walked for maybe another 30 seconds, and feeling good, started a pretty steep climb. I ran almost until the end. Another hill, right before the final one, I had to stop. Maybe 15-20 second. My ankle started bothering me, so I shook it out and finished the climb. Turned to run over a bridge, and then the final hill. Kept at my running pace all the way. As soon as I hit the top, I turned right for the final stretch. I saw Eric, Ward, Lilli, Kate (who finished with 33:17 - awesome!), and unexpectedly, Claire! They were busy deciding which signs to hold up now, so I leaned towards them and yelled "CHEER ME!" So they did. As I got closer to the finish line, I saw the clock reading 38:xx and I knew I would PR. I felt a bolt of adrenaline and sprinted across the finish line. My "gun time" was 38:09, but my chip time was 37:33, beating my previous PR by 5:04.
I know that a 12:06/mile pace isn't terribly fast by most standards, but it's downright speedy for me. I'm so dang proud I can't stand it!
-------------------
*So clearly I didn't remember anything about the terrain of this race from last year. Kate asked me when she signed up how hilly it was, and I told her it wasn't that bad. She asked again last week after she PR'd in a 5K in Louisville. Apparently that course was very flat, so she was nervous about this one. I was all "no, it's totally easy breezy". Sorry, Kate! I have a horrible memory!
-------------------
After the race, we all headed back to the apartment, made a delicious brunch, drank mimosas, and then I took an epic 4 hour nap. That's how it's done, ladies and gentlemen.
------------------
I'm feeling pretty good about myself now, so I'm giving myself a new goal. More on that in my next post.
Woohoo!
Kate and Ward came into town around 6:00, just in time for dinner! I made your standard pre-race spaghetti meal, and we drank a some wine and had a grand old time. We were joined by my best friend, Kristy, who gave us lots of encouraging words in lieu of her presence at the actual race.
Once Eric came home, he and Ward set about making signs to inspire us along the course.
I drank a few glasses of water and went to bed around 10:30. Kate followed suit shortly after, but the boys stayed up until close to 1:00, perfecting their race day signs.
We were all up and out the door by 7:15 Saturday morning. Once we arrived, it was a short walk from the MARTA station down to Bolt-central. Kate and got our bibs in no time, and decided to hit the Porta-Potties before the race. This is a small, local, neighborhood oriented affair, so there were only about 1200 participants. However, felt like 4 or 5 Porta-Potties weren't nearly enough.
Anyway. We had enough time to catch back up with the boys, joined now by Eric and Kate's sister, Lilli, and drop off our things. We lined up and waited for the starting gun. Kate asked me (again*) how hilly the course was, and I reassured her that it was pretty gradual uphills, followed by some lovely downhills. The worst part of the race is at mile 3, right before the finish, there's a pretty steep uphill.
The starting gunshot or buzzer or whatever it was happened and we were off. Kate and I kept with each other for all of 3 minutes before I realized I was going far too fast to maintain. I slowed down and moved to the right, trying to focus on my breath. When I hit mile 1 (after a pretty steep climb) I felt pretty good. Good enough that I wanted to keep going, but I knew I had to take a walking break. I wanted to finish strong, so I had to hold myself back at the start. I walked for about 30 seconds, and then sped up again.
I came to the water station and decided to drink about half a cup. Another walking break (and did I mention another hill?). Sped up again until I hit mile 2. I walked for maybe another 30 seconds, and feeling good, started a pretty steep climb. I ran almost until the end. Another hill, right before the final one, I had to stop. Maybe 15-20 second. My ankle started bothering me, so I shook it out and finished the climb. Turned to run over a bridge, and then the final hill. Kept at my running pace all the way. As soon as I hit the top, I turned right for the final stretch. I saw Eric, Ward, Lilli, Kate (who finished with 33:17 - awesome!), and unexpectedly, Claire! They were busy deciding which signs to hold up now, so I leaned towards them and yelled "CHEER ME!" So they did. As I got closer to the finish line, I saw the clock reading 38:xx and I knew I would PR. I felt a bolt of adrenaline and sprinted across the finish line. My "gun time" was 38:09, but my chip time was 37:33, beating my previous PR by 5:04.
I know that a 12:06/mile pace isn't terribly fast by most standards, but it's downright speedy for me. I'm so dang proud I can't stand it!
-------------------
*So clearly I didn't remember anything about the terrain of this race from last year. Kate asked me when she signed up how hilly it was, and I told her it wasn't that bad. She asked again last week after she PR'd in a 5K in Louisville. Apparently that course was very flat, so she was nervous about this one. I was all "no, it's totally easy breezy". Sorry, Kate! I have a horrible memory!
-------------------
After the race, we all headed back to the apartment, made a delicious brunch, drank mimosas, and then I took an epic 4 hour nap. That's how it's done, ladies and gentlemen.
------------------
I'm feeling pretty good about myself now, so I'm giving myself a new goal. More on that in my next post.
Woohoo!
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