Week 8 Runs and Final Decisions

Last Monday I was so excited that it was still light out after work due to day light savings, I immediately put on running shoes, grabbed my Garmin, and was off for a run. I was able to run 3 miles :) I tried to get Jake to run with me but he insisted on taking out the bike that needed some tire pumping action instead. We tried the "I'll catch up to you" plan... ya, that was a fail since we didn't agree on a set running route past .5 miles.. We ended up finishing at the apartment at the same time which I was particularly happy about since he had the keys. Jake also persuaded me away from my healthy dinner plans to celebrate day light savings at Chevy's Mexican Restaurant.. Pretty good start to the week :)

Friday was another beautiful day and since we had plans of going to Richmond for the weekend to see my friend Emily and her band East of Monroe perform, I wanted to get in a run before the weekend. My thighs have been pretty sore since our ski trip the weekend before so I felt like it was a solid but slow 3 miles. On another note, Emily's band was awesome! Seriously check out her songs (Careless thing by East of Monroe was one of my favorites).

Jake and I drove back from Richmond late Saturday night which gave us all day Sunday to relax, do laundry, and bike over to my all time favorite sub and pizza place in the DC area, The Italian Store. So freakin good!

Tuesday of this week rolled around and was able to get in a 3.38 run using mapmyruns.com. My legs were still pretty sore so I spent the remainder of the night stretching and getting in some protein by eating turkey burgers (the pictures came out badly so I will post the recipe next week when I make them again).

On another note, I have been struggling about what to do with my training for a 10K race that I will not be able to attend due to a family baby shower. I finally found a race that is near by, not too long, and looked fun. Chrystal City is about 5 minutes from where I live and beginning in April, they will be holding 5K races every Friday. This is something I feel like I can commit at least one Friday to. Not to mention I have begun recruiting some running buddies.. This means I will have to put my 10K Training Plan on hold and concentrate more on shorter runs to prepare for a 5K in April. I'm happy to be training for a race that I'll actually be able to participate in :)

Week 7 Runs

Tuesday I got home from work, put on my running clothes, and headed out the door for my run. I tried the mapmyrun.com site and found a new 2.3 mile loop that was pretty interesting. I ran by one historical site for the old Glebe House which served as a parish since the 1700s. Pretty good run all in all :)

Friday rolled around faster then I anticipated and I decided to hit the gym after work. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill in 18:10 minutes. I had some extra energy and walked at a 3.5 mph speed at an incline for .25 miles and then sprinted .25 miles at a 7.5 pace. I hung around the gym and did some weights and such after. I'm glad I did since pizza and quite a few beers followed once we met up some friends to watch the Virginia Tech basketball game (which we won!!).

My long run was once again side tracked by a ski trip. Jake, our friend Josh, and I decided to head up to Liberty Ski Resort on Saturday to get in one last ski trip before the season ended. The weather was warm and sunny but the conditions were on the slushy side to say the least. It was like trying to ski on a Slurpee. The trip was still fun and we stayed out for almost 8 hours. I also had made a deal with Jake that I would give snow boarding a shot by the end of the season. I stuck to my word and actually was able to stand up, stop, and slightly steer by the end of Jake's lesson :) I think I'll give it another shot next year.
 Anyways, the combination of the long time on the slopes and the hard to ski slush pretty much made my legs jello for the rest of the weekend and I had to forgo my long run on Sunday. It wasn't a total loss though. With my extra time, I did make some chocolate coconut cupcakes to bring to a our friends' Sunday dinner. I'll post the recipe later this week :)

Week 6 Runs

On Tuesday I got out of work on time and was determined to go for a run before the sun went down. I quickly got dressed, grabbed my ipod, forgot my Garmin Runner..., and was on my way. I think I was on an adrinalen high from trying to beat the sun that I felt like I was running at a pretty fast pace the whole time. Of course I would forget my Garmin during one of these better runs.. I ran around 2.25 miles.

Well I had the same problem this week as I did two weeks ago and had to stuck it up for an early morning Friday run. Wednesday was so nice out but my body didn't feel like running. Plus, I had to get the oil changed before our road trip this weekend. Thursday I had a friend's happy hour and I was not about to attempt running after beer and pizza. So Friday morning I made myself roll out of bed and hit the road. It was pretty chilly out and I'm pretty sure I was still asleep for the first mile of my run. I ran my 2.3 mile trail. I'm glad of course I ran and feel good that I was able to stick to my 2 short runs this week.

Jake and I will be heading on a ski trip with some of my girl friends from high school after work today! We are so excited! Pertaining to this running post, I doubt I will be able to do my long run since we will be skiing and drinking the majority of the time :) Oh well, I'll push this long run back a week.

Week 5 Runs

My new running strategy is to get in my runs between Monday - Sunday. As long as I get in 2 short runs and one long run I'm not going to beat myself up. This week was full of friend happy hours, work happy hours, and rain. On Tuesday I headed to the gym and hit the treadmill for a 2 mile run. Still hate the treadmill in case you were wondering. I was going to try to shoot for 2.5 but I was not liking the run at all and decided I would make it up in my next run which would hopefully be outside.

Distance: 2 miles

Time: 18:10

Time per mile: 9:05

I was bombarded with happy hours on the later part of the week which I needed to go to for work and wanted to go to for friends since I hadn't seen some of them in a while. I decided to try another early morning Friday run but I woke up to cold rain... ya that was definitely not happening. Saturday brought good weather and I hit the road for my late but better then never run. I didn't bring my Garmin but I know I jogged 2.5 - 2.75 miles.

Today was even more beautiful then Saturday. I woke up and immediately made myself some peanut butter toast and hit the road to tackle my 4 mile run I missed last week. It went surprisingly well and I enjoyed my run through some new neighborhoods I found. I also got semi lost about 2 miles in which was slightly nerve racking but made the time go by faster trying to get my bearings and trying new routes.

I'm excited I was able to make it through this run and can feel that I've made a lot of progress physically by sticking to my running plan (which isn't leading up to a race but whatever).

Pic of my post run Garmin runner :)

Time per mile: ~10:40

Week 4 Runs

On Tuesday of last week I was able to run after working semi late. One of the hardest things for me and running during the week is being flexible with my running time. I'm usually pretty good about running if I get off work on time, but if I even have to stay just 30 minutes late my running goes out the window. I know the spring will bring warmer temperatures and a later sun set which should help with this... Anyways, Jake and I live across from a high school track which is luckily lit pretty late into the evening. For safety reasons I like to stick to the track after sunset. I hit the track with my Garmin Runner and was able to run 2.5 miles at a 9:20 pace. The track helps me concentrate on my pace and work on some sprints as well since I know I'm running a set distance every lap. It's easy to get bored running in circles so sprinting half laps keeps things slightly more interesting.

Distance: 2.5
Time:  23:15
Time per mile: ~9:20

My next run that week proved to be more difficult. I was going to run on Thursday but my plans got derailed with working late and being pretty exhausted. Since Friday afternoon was the start of a long weekend and Jake and I were planning to head out to Luray, VA after work, I knew I would have to squeeze in a morning run on Friday. It was painful but I got out of bed and just did it. Not the most enjoyable early morning jog but I was glad I went through with it. I was still pretty sleepy so I forgot my Garmin run buddy..

Distance: 2 miles

Jake and I headed off to Luray that afternoon and I packed my running shoes hoping the trip wouldn't derail my long run goal for the week. However, we had so much planned I didn't get a chance to run. At first I was pretty distraught and felt like I had failed my running challenge but of course the big picture came to mind and I was ok with missing one of my runs. I was having a great time with Jake and the trip was giving us a chance to relax, spend time together, and explore Luray together. No sense in stressing over a run when we were having such a great time. Plus, we did get a good amount of exercise in by going on a 3 hour hike on Sunday in the Shenandoah mountains.

Week 3 Runs

Week 3, Run 1:

On Tuesday I headed to the gym still pretty upbeat and motivated from my long run on Sunday. I knocked out 2.5 miles on the treadmill in 22:20.

Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: 22:20
Time per Mile: 8:57

Afterward I did some weights and called it a night.

Week 3, Run 2:

Thursday I had to work a little late and keeping in mind that I needed to pick up Jake from his gym at 7, I was glad I had already knocked out my 2.5 mile run for the week. I ran a quick 2 miles and was out.

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 18:10
Time per mile: 9:05

Week 3, Run 3:

Today was so nice outside! It was 50 degrees and I was actually warm running in a long sleeve shirt. My time for this run was exactly stellar but I decided I don't want to concentrate on my pace and instead just getting through my long runs, period. I love running in Arlington. Yes, running in a city environment can be annoying with cars and stop lights, but my favorite places to run are the neighborhoods a few blocks away from the "city" areas. The houses are all so unique and adorable and I love finding new streets to run through and explore. Much to Jake and my disappointment, we found that these "cute" houses don't have such an cute price tag on them however... sigh...

Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: 36:34
Time per mile: 10:38

Week 2, Run 3

Today was my second long run which was 3 miles. Luckily it was above 40 degrees and sunny outside so I happily went on my first outside run in weeks. The run went so much better then my previous runs on the treadmill.

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 28:33
Time per Mile: 9:31

This run helped boost my confidence that I will be able to increase my mileage since I felt like I was running at a steady pace the whole time and wasn't overwhelmed by the distance increase.

Week 2, Run 2

I hit the treadmill once again after work today. This run went better then the last few actually and I didn't feel like death afterwards so that's a plus.

Distance: 2.3 miles
Time: 20:30
Time per mile: ~8:55 per mile

I walked an additional .2 miles at the highest incline at a 3.5 speed and then finished off with some weights.

I'm still undecided as to what to do with my training for a run that I won't be able to go to. I will keep up with the training as planned until I decide...

Week 1, Run 3 and more news...

This week I went on my Week 1 Run 3 which was my first long run of 2.5 miles. Ok so this distance isn't particularly longer then what I usually run, but on a treadmill I could feel/was aware of every step I took past mile 2. Once again, I can not wait until it is warm so I can run outside! I don't think I'll be able to do 3 miles on the treadmill for my next long run so I may have to brave the cold.

Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: 22:30
Time per mile: 9 minutes

In other news, I have some bad news regarding my 10K (but good news for my cousin!). I have a family baby shower that got scheduled for the same day as the race! Of course I will be attending the baby shower since that is more important then the run but I'm not sure what I am going to do with my training. I could finish my training plan and just not run the race, perhaps sign up for another race in the same general time, or move on to another exercise goal. Any suggestions?? I really am torn.

Week 1 Run 2

On Thursday I finished run 2 of week 1. I hit the treadmill and ran 2 miles in 18:13. As for my additional cardio, I stayed on the treadmill for an additional 5 minutes at the highest incline level to cover a .3 distance. I wish I was able to do more of the "additional cardio" but I forgot my ipod and the treadmill was sucking the life out of me. Next time I should opt for the bike or elliptical I guess.

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 18:13
Time per mile: 9:06

I really can not wait until the weather warms up and I can do these runs outside. The treadmill has been really beating me down.

10K Training Week 1 Run 1

My first run of 10K training is done. It was only 1.5 miles but I'm glad it was short since I've been struggling to get to the gym in the past two weeks due to a new job and getting use to my new schedule. Since it was a short run, I tried to run work on my time by doing 1-2 minute sprints though out.

Miles: 1.5

Time: 13:14

Time Per Mile:  ~8:50

Afterwards I did some weights and leg and chess presses.

I got off work early but had to use the treadmill due to this:

And that's just after 2 hours of snow.. There is suppose to be more to come tonight. It's so pretty but I think I'm looking at the treadmill for the next few days. Boo.

10K Training Plan

I researched a few 10K training plans before I came to the decision that I wanted to make my own. All the plans I found online had a few things in common. They all had a run that focused on pace with strength training afterwards, a run that was more relaxed but added in other cardio work, and a "long run" at the end of the week. Most of these plans took up about 5-6 days out of the week... Something I'm not ready to commit to for a 10K run.

My plan needed to be flexible and realistic for my schedule which means 3 days of runs per week.

Each week I will have a shorter run that focuses on pace and then strength exercises afterwards, a slightly longer run which will be slow and steady and then will do another form of cardio exercises, and finally a long run on the weekend to increase my mileage.
Here is my (color coded) plan starting January 22nd!

Week 1 :   1.5m + strength    2m + additional cardio        2.5m long run
Week 2:    2m + strength       2.5m + additional cardio     3m long run
Week 3:   2m + strength       2.5m + additional cardio     3.5m long run
Week 4:    2m + strength        2.5m + additional cardio     4m long run
Week 5:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio      4.5m long run
Week 6:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio     4.5m long run
Week 7:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio      5m long run
Week 8:   2.5 m + strength       3m + additional cardio      5.5m long run
Week 9:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio       6m long run
Week 10:  2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio      4.5m long run

Week of Race: 2.5 m + strength   3m + additional cardio     10K!!!

Not going to lie.. I'm kind of worried about the amount of miles towards the end of this plan but I'm going to do my best to stick to it!