Saturday, March 24, 2012
First long run on the FIRST program
as I mentioned, I have 9 weeks until my next half marathon. So I decided to do a few workouts this week from the first week and a few from the 2nd, since starting on Monday I will officially have to be in week 3 of workouts. We ended up doing 8 miles. We were supposed to target a 10:22 pace (30 sec/mile slower than what will be our half marathon pace). Today was one of those days where everything felt awesome - perfect temperature, sunny, my legs felt great! Because my Garmin is still acting up (more on that later), I used the Marathon app for Windows Phone, and my running buddy's Garmin was working. According to Marathon - we ran 8.4 miles in 1:21:00 (9:38 pace). According to Garmin, we ran 8.0 miles in 1:21:00 (10:07 pace). Regardless, I'll take it! I do have some sore legs and 5-6 blisters, but nothing that won't heal quickly!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
FIRST training program
Hi all. I have this not so secret half marathon goal to run a sub 2 hour half. I'm a long way away from that right now (current PR is 2:16:10).
I've been doing some research on different training plans and found the FIRST method through a couple different people that have had success with it on the Nest health and fitness board. so I decided to give it a go. I'm planning on running another half marathon on May 12th, so that gives me 9 weeks in total to prepare. Given that the first is a 10 week training plan, I'll just have to merge the first and second weeks a bit. For this race I'll be targeting a sub 2:10 race (9:52 pace which will yield in an almost 7 minute PR). From there, I will try to train for the sub 2:00.
I thought I was going to dread training because honestly, I haven't been feeling it lately. I've been feeling very lazy and bored, as evidenced by my lackluster training for the lake sammamish half. I did the first workout Monday (cross training) and then the first running workout (400m repeats) on Tuesday and it's nice to feel challenged again. I do feel like the 20 minute warm-up is a bit overkill so I can't promise I did the whole thing, but it felt good to really push myself!
I'll keep you updated as my progress continues - hopefully I can stick with it and work won't get too crazy!
I've been doing some research on different training plans and found the FIRST method through a couple different people that have had success with it on the Nest health and fitness board. so I decided to give it a go. I'm planning on running another half marathon on May 12th, so that gives me 9 weeks in total to prepare. Given that the first is a 10 week training plan, I'll just have to merge the first and second weeks a bit. For this race I'll be targeting a sub 2:10 race (9:52 pace which will yield in an almost 7 minute PR). From there, I will try to train for the sub 2:00.
I thought I was going to dread training because honestly, I haven't been feeling it lately. I've been feeling very lazy and bored, as evidenced by my lackluster training for the lake sammamish half. I did the first workout Monday (cross training) and then the first running workout (400m repeats) on Tuesday and it's nice to feel challenged again. I do feel like the 20 minute warm-up is a bit overkill so I can't promise I did the whole thing, but it felt good to really push myself!
I'll keep you updated as my progress continues - hopefully I can stick with it and work won't get too crazy!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Lake Sammamish Half Marathon Recap
So, I have been totally absent from the blog, mostly because: I haven't been getting my runs in.
I have really been struggling to run during the week, and our last 2 long runs (were supposed to be 8-10 miles) were more like 5-6.
Last week, leading up to the race, we found out of the 3 ladies that I was planning to run with, 1 had to have surgery, and one got really really sick. So it was just me and my normal running buddy (I trained with her during my season with Team). Thursday rolled around and I got sick. I thought it was just allergies, but in the afternoon the fever and chills came. I felt awful. I told my RB that I was still planning on running the half, but I'd keep her updated on how I felt. I tried to go into work on Friday and turns out no one wanted to meet with me since I was sick - so I went home and rested, really hoping that my nasal congestion wouldn't prohibit me from running. I figured I'd at least start the race, but if I couldn't finish because I couldn't breathe, well, so be it.
I woke up Saturday morning bound and determined to run. The forecast was calling for rain, rain and more rain. lovely! I met my RB at the park and ride and we headed down to the start. It was pouring, and I was not feeling great. Lo and behold, though, once I started to run, my sinuses completely cleared out! It was magical! Definitely not my best 13.1 since I hadn't properly trained, but it wasn't my slowest, either. In fact, as we were approaching the back end of Mile 10, my RB realized she could seriously PR if she kept it up, so I told her to go on ahead without me, took a short walk break, and then tried to finish the last 2.1 the best I could. Turns out? RB PR'ed by 5 whole minutes! Rockstar! As much as it sucks not having a "good" race, it really is a rewarding feeling helping someone else achieve their goals.
This has been a recovery week for me, both healthwise and running, so I've been pretty lazy. I'm doing a 5 mile run with RB tomorrow, and then next week I am going to start the FIRST program and try to PR a half marathon in May in under 2:10:00. Next stop? A half marathon in July in (hopefully) under 2:00:00. We shall see!
I have really been struggling to run during the week, and our last 2 long runs (were supposed to be 8-10 miles) were more like 5-6.
Last week, leading up to the race, we found out of the 3 ladies that I was planning to run with, 1 had to have surgery, and one got really really sick. So it was just me and my normal running buddy (I trained with her during my season with Team). Thursday rolled around and I got sick. I thought it was just allergies, but in the afternoon the fever and chills came. I felt awful. I told my RB that I was still planning on running the half, but I'd keep her updated on how I felt. I tried to go into work on Friday and turns out no one wanted to meet with me since I was sick - so I went home and rested, really hoping that my nasal congestion wouldn't prohibit me from running. I figured I'd at least start the race, but if I couldn't finish because I couldn't breathe, well, so be it.
I woke up Saturday morning bound and determined to run. The forecast was calling for rain, rain and more rain. lovely! I met my RB at the park and ride and we headed down to the start. It was pouring, and I was not feeling great. Lo and behold, though, once I started to run, my sinuses completely cleared out! It was magical! Definitely not my best 13.1 since I hadn't properly trained, but it wasn't my slowest, either. In fact, as we were approaching the back end of Mile 10, my RB realized she could seriously PR if she kept it up, so I told her to go on ahead without me, took a short walk break, and then tried to finish the last 2.1 the best I could. Turns out? RB PR'ed by 5 whole minutes! Rockstar! As much as it sucks not having a "good" race, it really is a rewarding feeling helping someone else achieve their goals.
This has been a recovery week for me, both healthwise and running, so I've been pretty lazy. I'm doing a 5 mile run with RB tomorrow, and then next week I am going to start the FIRST program and try to PR a half marathon in May in under 2:10:00. Next stop? A half marathon in July in (hopefully) under 2:00:00. We shall see!
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