Missed the last few weeks!

Well, I've found that writing weekly recaps of my training is rather, well, boring. I've been managing to squeeze in all of my workouts each week and have stuck with running five days a week. I'm currently in week 10 for my 15k (or week 5 of my half marathon plan).

I finished week nine with a bang by getting a PR in the 10k event at the local marathon on Sunday!! I took 7 seconds off and finished in 57:52. My goal was to break an hour and I really did not think I'd be even close to getting a PR. It was a lovely mother's day surprise. Considering I haven't really put in a solid training effort since 2009, I'm happy to be back to my 2009 paces again.

I have one more run this week before the 15k on Sunday. Tomorrow I hope to do a nice, slow, easy recovery run and then a couple of rest days are in order!

Next update will be after the 15k!


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Week six

Week 6 of my 10-week 15k training plan is done, also known as week 1 of my 10-week half marathon training plan. I prefer to think that I'm on week six instead of week one though.

Week 6 recap
Miles: 23.79
5 Runs;
252 Minutes

Tuesday: 4 miles, 6:1 interval
Wednesday: 4.15 miles in 40:00, no walk breaks
Thursday: recovery run, 35:00, 2:1 interval
Saturday: 8.13 miles, 6:1 interval
Sunday: 4.38 miles, treadmill at 1%, 45:00, no walk breaks

I increased the difficulty this week by removing walk breaks from a second run and increasing my intervals to 6:1. I didn't find either change overly challenging. I'd like to be at a 7:1 interval in time for my half.

I also made my long run a bit harder this week by running on a route near my home that has a lot more elevation change than the trails downtown. I still managed a faster long run pace than last week, so that helped my confidence. The half marathon route, while not tremendously hilly, does have a rather long, gradual incline for several miles. I ran this event a few years ago and said I'd never do it again lol.

My first event of the year is fast approaching. I have a 10k the week before my 15k. I'm starting to obsess about my goals a bit:

10k
- hopefully no walk breaks
- A goal is under 60 minutes
- B goal is under 65 minutes
- C goal is under 70 minutes

I'm feeling ready for the 10k and 15k, however it does feel daunting to have another 9 weeks of training for the half! Thank goodness that a few of those weeks are race weeks and the training will be a little lighter. I only have 5 more long runs plus 3 race days. That sounds manageable. At least I keep telling myself that.

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Week five - done!

I had grand plans to include a few photos and a recipe with this post but the weekend got away from me.

Week five was a great week for training! Running felt so much easier after running with a head cold all of last week. In particular, this week's long run of 8 miles felt so much better than last week's 7-miler.

My triumph of the week was today's run. Sunday is my "no walk day" run and I managed to do 3.98 miles in 40 minutes exactly. I haven't had a run like that in *years*. I'm considering changing one of my weekday interval runs to a "no walk day" run to try to improve some more. My rule used to be that I would not use run-walk intervals for any run less than 6-7 miles. I'd like to get back to 6-miles without walk breaks level of fitness for sure.

Week five summary

All of my runs in week five were downtown on various running trails...very flat terrain, but it was a bit windy for a couple of runs.
Monday - rest
Tuesday - 4 miles, 5:1 run-walk
Wednesday - 40 minutes, 5:1 run-walk
Thursday - 35:00 recovery run, slow, 2:1 intervals
Friday - rest
Saturday - 8.15 mile long run, 5:1 intervals
Sunday - 3.98 miles, no walk breaks

Looking forward to tomorrow's rest day!!


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Week Four - done!

Happy Easter! We were up bright and early since someone was so excited to see if the Easter bunny had stopped by. I think we will be finding eggs for several days to come! Thank goodness, there were lots of Aero mint lambs hidden for Cameron to share with his mommy. If I'm running five days a week, I am entitled to some chocolate!

After lunch (and my nap), I hit the treadmill for 40 minutes of running. Why didn't I run outside? It is has been snowing hard ALL day! I'm not about to run around in slush and snow and ruin a pair of perfectly good sneakers.

This is what is left, but a lot of snow has melted already (we got about 10cm):




Weekly wrap-up
Monday - rest
Tuesday - rest (sick)
Wednesday - 40:00 run on trails, 5:1 intervals
Thursday - 40:00 run on trails, 5:1 intervals
Friday - 1.75 mile slow recovery run to try out new Garmin
Saturday - 7.15 miles, 5:1 intervals, 10:45 pace, 1:16:43
Sunday - 40:00 on the treadmill, 3.8 miles, no walk breaks

I'm happy with my running this week considering I've been suffering from an annoying cold and cough for the entire week. Hopefully I'll be back to normal health soon. I'm starting to get a little anxiety for the 15k and subsequently the half marathon. 7 miles felt quite long on Saturday. I'm going to keep my long run at 7 miles for another week before increasing to 8.

We just finished a Kinect session playing the new Disney game that Cameron got for Easter. I think my arms will be sore tomorrow!

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Sick of coughing... again...

I had a rough start for week four of my training plan. I woke up Monday morning with an incredibly sore throat. I ended up taking a rest day on Tuesday rather than doing my normal run. By Wednesday, I was able to do a 40 minute run on my lunch break, although I was coughing a lot during the day. Ditto for Thursday.

So the week shaped up like this:
Tuesday - first missed workout for the entire *year*
Wednesday - 40:00 run on the trail at lunch (5:1 intervals)
Thursday - 40:00 run on the trail at lunch (5:1 intervals)
Friday - 1.75 mile, new Garmin test run

Today is normally my rest day, but since my new garmin 405 arrived yesterday, I felt motivated to try it out! I went for a 1.75 mile run to make sure I knew how to set up the intervals properly and switch between views on the display. I wanted to get these little details down today before my long run tomorrow!

This cold that I have is so strange. I cough and cough throughout the day and yesterday evening was positively horrid (my abs are sore from coughing so much), but I don't cough a bit while I'm running! I guess I should consider myself lucky that I only had to skip one planned run this week.

New running toy, I replaced the hard plastic strap with one of the Velcro straps that came with it and it is so much more comfortable:




Now, to enjoy the remainder of my rest day. Scallops for lunch, a movie with my mom and cousin this afternoon and a BBQ for supper! I plan on enjoying this 4 day weekend to the utmost!

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End of week three

I finished week three with my highest mileage week of the year so far, 20 miles!!

On Saturday, I ran 10k on the trails using a 5:1 run-walk ratio. On Sunday, I ran 40:00 around my subdivision without any walk breaks. The temperature was perfect both days and there was relatively no wind. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I was really happy with my pace both days.

I also made two running related purchases at the end of the week, semi spur of the moment. Now that I'm running five days a week, I'm running out of running jackets FAR before it's time to do laundry. I splurged on two jackets from the Running Room. I wore them for each of my weekend runs and I *love* them. If I maintain my running momentum into the fall, I foresee the purchase of a third (or requesting that someone buy me one for Christmas).

Today was a rest day and I've used it to consume large doses of Cold FX to try to get rid of the cold that I woke up with this morning. I'm sure I will be able to run tomorrow, but it might not be a very high quality run, depending on how I feel.


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Week three

Expenses
This year I am trying to track all running related expenses for myself. Sometimes they overlap with Trevor since we might be traveling to run in the same event. I thought it would be interesting to review at the end of the year and see how much this "hobby" costs on a yearly basis.

So far this year, my purchases have included:
- 2 new pairs of running shoes
Asics Gel Nimbus 13s ($135)
Wave Rider 15s ($115)
- 2 pairs of compression socks (love these and well worth the $60, although I'm going to start ordering from a different company because the customer service where I regularly order them is horrific)
- race entries for 10k, 15k and half (anticipating 3 more races in the fall)
- hotel for the half ($79)
- hotel for the 15k ($100; we're making a weekend out of this event and I get to do a little shopping as well, this one also overlaps with Trevor's running expenses, since the weekend was originally for him, I'm only going to count 1 of the 3 hotel nights with my expenses)

I expect to buy another 2 pairs of running shoes this year. I'm leaning towards more Wave Rider 15s. I will probably buy more running socks as well.

Week 3 Training
Run 1 - Tuesday on the treadmill with 1% incline for 3.5 miles (5:1 run-walk ratio)
Run 2 - Wednesday on the running trails at lunchtime for 3.5 miles (5:1 run-walk ratio)
Run 3 (X-train session) - Thursday, 3.1 miles in 35:00, easy recovery run (2:1 run-walk ratio), followed by a ten minute walk

Tuesday's run on the treadmill was tough mentally, I just did not want to run inside after having run outside for the last two weeks. It was too windy and cold for me to consider running outside. I couldn't make myself do it. I was 30 seconds faster on the treadmill than on Wednesday's run, so not much difference.

I squeezed in Wednesday's and Thursday's runs during my lunch break at work. I'd love to be able to continue running at lunch while the weather is nice and cool.


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