50th post

Friends,

I have decided to stop blogging here about my training and continue to blog about my training over at my newer blog: Teach.Run.Love.

For the last update: 3rd half marathon in one year!

Country Music Half April 2010: 3 hours 10 minutes and 27 seconds
14:32 average pace.
Splits: 5k= 43:32.  10 Mile=2:24:55

The Woman's Half Marathon September 2010: 3 hours 17 minutes and 4 seconds.
15:03 pace

Country Music Half Marathon April 2011: 3 hours, 13 minutes, and 37 seconds.
Pace: 14:17. Splits: 5k=43:20. 10K= 1:30:01. 10 mile=2:26:02.

Please keep following me over at Teach.Run.Love

Rain Rain GO AWAY AND DON'T COME BACK....

Until after race day...PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE!!

That's how I felt this past weekend. We ran 9 miles...9 MISERABLE miles. It was much colder than it has been and this is one of the first weekends that I decided that I didn't need my running tights. I thought I could get away with my cute running skirt, a drifit tank and a long sleeve tee. BOY WAS I WRONG! It was 49 degrees and windy. There was debris on the trail from the bad storm we had this past week. There were deep puddles we had to dodge and so on...We were running 4.5 miles in and then back out to our car. We were hoping to do 9 miles in an hour and 45 minutes and well the elements of mother nature didn't want us to get that good of a time. We had turned around and were about 2.5 miles away from our car and it started to sprinkle. Fine, I can handle a sprinkle...(heck, I handled a down pour last year at the Country Music Half, well I don't know if I would use the word "handled" but survived.) Then it started to DOWN POUR...we were very unhappy runners at this point. We were FREEZING and my cotton long sleeve tee that was suppose to be just to keep me warm enough was sopping wet and very uncomfortable. We did it though. We survived. We didn't make it in the time we wanted to but we did it and that is all that matters, really. And when I say "We" I mean my best friend Heather and I. But really, you guys should know this by now :) 

We stopped by starbucks in our sopping wet clothes, shivering and my Cinnamon Dolce Latte never tasted better!

Week Recap

I am so proud of myself this week. I usually am a BIG SLACKER during the week. First off, Sunday, friend Heather and I went to Radnor Lake for a stroll... it wasn't on our training schedule or anything but it was nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful day!

Monday- It stormed crazy bad, but I did 30 minutes of Your Shape Fitness Evolved on our Xbox kinect.
Tuesday- Ran 4 miles, a little over an hour (not the best but my shin splits were KILLING me)
Wednesday- Rest
Thursday- Got up SO EARLY and did 2 miles on the elliptical in 24 minutes. THAT'S 12:28 MINUTE MILES, PEOPLE! The best ever. Now if only I could transfer that onto the pavement :)
Friday- Allergies acting up and we are leaving for Ohio this afternoon. I'm hoping to get a short run in this weekend in Columbus but I'm going to be hanging with my college girls.  Not too much longer until I have completed my 3rd half marathon in ONE YEAR! Who knew I could even accomplish my first one, but 3??

I'm going to post a few of my favorite running things soon! I wish I could add a Garmin but I have to live vicariously through my running friend Heather. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get one for my birthday.

Happy Weekend, Ya'll!

Shin splints, blisters and 12 miles oh my!

First off, Laura is having a giveaway over at her blog for the Sony W series Walkman...I really want to try it! http://bit.ly/eOuoYL

I overcame the peak of my 3rd half marathon training. 12 miles....I wanted to curse the last 2 miles but I have an amazing friend that kept me going and kept encouraging me. She said "I have to keep you going during training because you are the one who will have to keep me going during the actual race :)"  We did part of the Country Music Half course. 2 weeks ago we did our 10 miler and started at Centennial and went the first 5 miles of the course. Yesterday, we started at mile 4 around Belmont and went mile 4-10 of the Half course. It was good but tough. I had really bad shin pain during the first 3 miles but then it seemed to get a little better. After it was all said and done, I had small blisters, more like callouses but they hurt :(  We ate several sport beans by jelly belly (they were good!) and one Chocolate Outrage GU! LOVE IT! It is like chocolate frosting! The bad thing was we ran out of water. I am SO grateful for the water stops during the actual race! I also realized that we didn't do a "warm-up/stretch" before we headed out on our miles. This might have caused my shin pain and we had to stop some to stretch. We also had to stop and help a lady with directions. Our time wasn't the best but we both had been slacking all week and didn't do our workouts during the week like we should've. It's our own fault and we learned that we can't do that. We did 12 miles in 3 hours and 5 minutes. We HAVE to get better than that if we want to be under 3 hours.

My goal for the week: TO DO EVERY WORKOUT NO MATTER WHAT!

Have a great week!

Half-Marathon Schedule and a thought..

Week	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3- Arms	x train	3	3 Hills	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	4x400 IW	Strength	4	3 Hills	Rest	5	Rest	14
3	3-Arms	x train	4	3 Hills	Rest	6	Rest	16
4	5x400 IW	Strength	5	3 Hills	Rest	8	Rest	18.5
5	3-Arms	x train	5	3 Hills	Rest	10	Rest	21
6	6x400 IW	Strength	5	4 Hills	Rest	11	Rest	23
7	4-Arms	x train	6	4 Hills	Rest	12	Rest	26
8	7x400 IW	Strength	5	4 Hills	Rest	9	Rest	21.5
9	3-Arms	x train	4	3	Rest	8	Rest	18
10	3	Strength	3	Walk 2	Rest	13.1	Rest	21.1

 

IW: Interval workout: one lap hard running, one cool down lap, repeat.

x train: Kinect Your shape fitness evolved, Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels 30 day shred, elliptical, Zumba, Spin class

Strength train: Kinect Your Shape fitness evolved strength workouts, Rec center weight machines.

Hills: run/walk in Wakefield or Wynngate subdivision or treadmill.

Saturday runs: downtown or River park off of concord road

 

I'm still debating whether or not to retire this blog. I feel like not many people read it and my other blog has the word "Run" in the title, so I have been writing about running also. Please comment if you want me to keep this one up or if you think one blog is enough to keep up with. Checkout http://teachrunlove.blogspot.com for my update on this week's progress. I'm on week 2 for my training schedule. 

Training update and a review

Hey Ya'll! Sorry I've been absent lately..my time has been taken up by my newer (updated) blog Teach.Run.Love. Anyways onto the training recap...

2 weeks ago was a flop..kinda just did Zumba and Kinect fitness games.

Last week was more productive I feel:
Monday: Arms and shoulders work out with a Self magazine pull out.
Tuesday: Zumba
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 5x400 Interval run that ended up being 3 miles total with a warm up and cool down
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 6 miles with friend Heather.
Sunday: rest

I need to do more on those rest days...maybe light walking, a kinect work out or something!

Onto the review: Gu gels and Power Bar energy gel blasts

First off, Gu gels. Heather and I tried out several before the Women's half this past September. We tried them on our last long run of 11 miles. We each had a different flavor and shared them. She had the chocolate outrage and I had vanilla bean.

The chocolate was much better than the Vanilla, in my opinion. The Chocolate Outrage tasted like chocolate syrup. The vanilla had a weird consistency. When taking these, I had to have a swig of water immediately. The Women's Half were providing gu at the 8 mile marker. On their site, they listed the Gu flavors they were going to be passing out and I was excited that the Chocolate Outrage was going to be handed out. Unfortunately, they were wrong and I took the vanilla anyways. I didn't even finish it because my hand held water bottle was empty and there wasn't a water stop close by. I will be trying some different flavors this time around but will probably be taking my own Gu gel in my iftiness belt for future half marathons that I do to make sure I have a flavor I like.

I've also tried Power bar Energy Gel Chews.

I've tried the Strawberry Banana and the Raspberry. I like the Raspberry better, but they are both good! They give you a little boost and between Heather and I, we took the whole pack, which is about 12 or so chews. They remind me of gushers fruit chews for grown ups!

Week 2 of New Training!

Last week was so crazy because of the snow. Which means lots of treadmill runs=ok for the first few miles..then totally boring!

Sunday Jan 9th-I did an hour Zumba class with my friend Amy! We had a blast!
Monday- Snow day and did 45 minutes of Kinect games (dance central and your shape fitness evolved-arms and shoulders) for Cross training.
Tuesday- Snow day and I played kinect games again..didn't want to trek it down to the fitness room of our townhouse neighborhood.
Wednesday- Snow day- suppose to be a rest day but I needed to do my 4x400 Interval training, so I went down to the workout room and ran all the the times I needed to! I was so tired afterwards but it was such a great workout!
Thursday- was suppose to do 3 miles but did 45 minutes of Your Shape Fitness Evolved cardio kickboxing, nice and easy routine, some gym games, and zen (don't like the zen...so silly)
Friday-Rest day...went back to school and then babysat for the cutest little boy again! Love playing with an almost 18 month old!
Saturday- Friend Heather came down to our house and we went to the Saturn Plant trail to do our 6 miles...we did one lap and much of it was still covered with ice, so we came back here to the treadmills....they were terrible!! I think one of them isn't calibrated or just really old, so they were awful and we decided to only do 2 miles on them and then we finished 3 miles outside in my neighborhood. It was a terrible run.



Stayed tuned for some upcoming reviews on some products that I own and love and book reviews!

Week 1 of new training

I started out fresh this week on my half-marathon training plan.
Monday- 35minutes cross training with The Biggest Loser Kinect game. It was a wonderful workout. Made me sweat a lot and it was fun!
Tuesday- Ran outside around our neighborhood for a 30 minute tempo run which ended up being more of a run/walk. I ended up going a little less than 2 miles.
Wednesday- REST (aka report card night where I watched 3 movies and did report cards for my sweet little first graders, I had to give them report cards Thursday)
Thursday- 45 minute spin class at the Longview Rec center! I LOVED IT! I am definitely going to get back into spin class. The only downfall to the class that night was the music was up a little too loud and I couldn't hear the instructor very well and since we spin in a dark room with a black light on, it was kind of hard to see her too. Next time should be better!
Friday- Rest. We hung out with friends and played games.
Saturday- Heather and I went to Concord Road park trails and did 5 miles in 1 hour and 24 minutes in 28 degree weather and snowing. It was really really cold but I'm glad we accomplished it. Next time, we will be treadmilling it if it is snowing and that cold! :)
Sunday- not sure yet, probably do some cross training with one of my kinect games. All depends on when we get home from church/afternoon plans and such.

It was a great week so far and I hope to do a review soon!

Welcoming a new year!

Hello, 2011! You are going to be the best year yet!

I want to first start off by sharing some fitness goals and personal goals!

Fitness goals:
1. Lose 15-20 pounds and tone up/ eat healthier.
2. Complete 4 races this year (2 of which being half marathons)
3. Cross and strength train along with my half marathon training plan.
4. Be able to run more of my walk/run method!

Personal goals:
1. Be the best Christian , wife, and teacher I can be (staying positive, daily devotionals, devotions with Derek daily, getting more involved with our church)
2.Read more books this year. 7 minimum.
3. Keep saving money into our emergency fund and house fund.
4.Cook more healthier home cooked meals.
5. Blog more on this blog and my picture/life in general blog.


Here's to you, 2011! Let the games begin!