nashville 2012: week 8

It’s hard to believe that 2/3 of my training for Nashville is done. I really wish I could say it’s going better, but it most definitely is not. Here’s my run down of my workouts this week.

Sunday: Yoga Body Bootcamp™ + 9 mile bike ride
Monday: 3 mile run in the morning + workout A w/ 1.5 mile block sprints
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 2 mile run + workout b
Thursday: yoga
Friday: rest
Saturday: 20 mile bike ride + handstand workshop

I had a great 8 mile run two Saturday’s ago – I felt good and kept a really good-for-me pace, but something happened in between then and Monday to make my running take a turn for the worst. I’m not sure if my legs just decided not to recover at all, but they felt horrible in the morning and my shins definitely felt like they were splinting. I made it 3 of my planned 4.5 miles and gave up. I walked about a mile back home and immediately started stretching. I was feeling better during the day and was hoping that the morning was a fluke, so I decided to come home and do workout A from Best Body Bootcamp with a 5 minute cardio burst in between each set of exercises. I ran around our block three times which took under 15 minutes overall, the run felt hard but I was keeping a good pace so I figured that was why.

Because of my less-than-stellar feeling on Monday, I decided to take Tuesday as a total rest day. I was hoping to kick my crap feeling, but by Wednesday morning I was no better. I set out with a plan of covering 3 miles running (down from the 4.5 scheduled) – and made it through 2… barely. I was less than happy. That night I figured I might as well get some weights in, so Workout B was done (no cardio – and not too long of a workout).

Thursday was yoga at night. It seemed like a slower and more stretchy/twisty class so it felt really good! Followed up by another rest day on Friday.

I had decided that my body must be telling me something about running, so my scheduled 9-miler on Saturday was put on hold. I figured it would hopefully help my shins/legs to do something different, so I tool the time it would have taken me to run to take a bike ride. I figured I would plan on covering 20 miles in that time and ended up with 20.5 including a little time spent riding alongside Sister when she was tackling her first 20 mile run. I definitely underdressed on this bike ride and was FREEZING both on the ride and when I returned! My toes turned purple when I got back and got in the hot shower way too quickly – never again!

And even though my legs are feeling burnt out, my arms are fine! I signed up for a handstand workshop almost a month ago and it was finally the day for it! It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot – I’m definitely getting there with being able to balance but I’m a ways off! And since this was quite a bit of arm work (I’m actually still feeling it quite a bit today!) I decided to forego workout c, which was mostly arm work.

So what’s the plan for this week? Little to no running to see if that helps during the week, and then hopefully a Saturday run. I still have four weeks until Nashville, so this is a setback, but I’ll deal with it and hopefully come out stronger with a little rest.

nashville 2012: week 7

So I’ve kind of fallen off the blogging planet lately… I just haven’t been feeling into it and why do it if I’m not truly enjoying it, right? Well, at least I’ve been enjoying my workouts, even though they’re kicking my butt ;).

Sunday: Yoga Body Bootcamp™ + 9 mile bike ride
Monday: 4.5 mile run + workout A
Tuesday: workout B
Wednesday: 4.5 mile run + 2 mile walk
Thursday: 108 sun salutations
Friday: REST!
Saturday: 8 mile run + 3 mile bike ride + workout C

The weather this past week has been GORGEOUS. The temps have been between the 70’s and 80’s and the sunlight is finally out for longer since it is officially Spring!

Sunday was probably the best day all week and after my disappointing 10k the day before, I needed a hard workout. I ended up biking to Yoga Body Bootcamp – which was exactly 9 miles round trip. The bike there and back were both so nice and sunny and I could just zone out listening to my iPod (the roads are fairly quiet so I don’t have to worry about too much traffic on my route). So much better than driving! Definitely have to figure out a good way of biking to work instead of driving ;).

My runs both went well. Kept them both at a pretty good pace and was definitely sweaty when I returned!

Workouts A, B and C were awesome from Best Body Bootcamp – it’s the third week, so it was a new set of exercises. Definitely tough, but I loved it!

Thursday’s Yoga was 108 Sun Salutations. We only do this class at the change of every season and since Tuesday was the first day of Spring, it was time! I think this was also the first time after this class I had zero soreness – usually my hamstrings are killing me from all of the sun a’s.

I was going to do workout C on Friday, but I ended up taking an entire rest day instead. Good choice!

Saturday started out with an 8 mile run with Sister. It was the last 8 of her 18 mile run. I ended up finishing this 8 mile run one second longer than it took for my last 7 mile run in hilly Seattle – kind of funny :). When we got back Sister wanted an ice bath but she had forgotten to get ice, so I decided to spin out my legs and bike to the gas station to get some. My workouts for the day finished with workout C and some stretching. The rest of the day was spent driving up to see my friend and seeing HUNGER GAMES! Love love loved it! A perfect Saturday!

seattle seven

This past week, per my Nashville 1/2 marathon training plan, it called for a 7 mile run. Usually when I put together a training plan I look at what weeks I have signed up for any races or am out of town and plan accordingly. Well, I definitely did not account for being gone this day so still put “7 miles” on the schedule. I had never been to Seattle so I had no idea what the running would be like there, but assumed it would be okay depending on what area we were staying. I easily could have:

A. Not ran and taken a week off.
B. Run on Sunday instead when I was back home.
C. Run on a treadmill in the gym.

But, I took option D instead – just sucking it up and running outside! I had walked around with my co-worker quite a bit so I was comfortable with the streets surrounding our hotel, plus it was like 5:30am when I set out (on a Saturday no less), so I was close to alone until the later part of my run.

One thing about Seattle that I never knew was that it is SUPER hilly! At least in the portion I was in. I started out heading down one of the Avenues toward the Space Needle since I hadn’t gotten the chance to go there so after a little over a mile, I was standing at the base! It was nice to see it from the ground, but I definitely wouldn’t pay the $19 bucks to go to the top. This portion of the run was mainly downhill.

I didn’t want to run past the Space Needle since I didn’t know what was behind it and it seemed a little more sketchy… but that could have just been the darkness too. I ran back up the same street (UPhill) and ended up finding myself going down a road that took me to the waterfront. Now this portion was nice! So scenic and FLAT – I really enjoyed it ;). I took quite a few walking breaks here however because I wanted to try and soak everything in!

Well I ran down the waterfront and realized I wasn’t sure how to get back across the street and to the downtown area, as there were a bunch of hotels/condos in the way. I saw a huge staircase with a walkway across, so I figured why not – just go up it and across. Man, those steps were tough! 50+ steps later and I was walking crawling across the walkway.

I then tried to find my way toward Pike Place Market and eventually did, after a few turnarounds ;). At this point the run was not so fun anymore. Really hilly and up and back on the same roads since I didn’t want to find myself too far away from the hotel at the end. Needless to say my pace was not ideal – mostly because of the hills and the stopping for red lights thing. It was the first day I tried out my new Garmin as well and I did not have it on the auto pause function. Even though the run was hilly and slow, I just love running in new places! The change of scenery is what I love. I wish there were more than two routes around my house I could go toward and that they looked different from one another…

When I got back from my run I went to the hotel coffee bar for a bananas to have with my instant oats in my room – I must have looked rough because the lady told me I could grab an extra banana or orange ahaha. But I was very sweaty (I had even stripped off my outer later around mile 3 1/2 so was only in a tank top!) and my face was quite red. It probably looked like I never worked out/ I was going to pass out ;). But I definitely took two bananas.

nashville 2012: week 5

This past week was crazy! I had a work trip to Seattle on Thursday and got back home last night, so I have had way more than enough time changes within the past few days (since it’s Spring Ahead and all 😉 ).

Sunday: Yoga Body Bootcamp™
Monday: 4 mile run + workout A
Tuesday: Insanity Cardio + Resistance
Wednesday: 4 mile run + workout B
Thursday: Rest/Travel day
Friday: workout C
Saturday: 7m run

Last Sunday’s Yoga Body Bootcamp was by far the hardest class thus far! I was definitely feeling it after the fact for a couple of days… My abs and shoulders were worked well in that hour!

Monday was the first day of the Best Body Bootcamp (obviously I’m loving the Body Bootcamps right now!). In the morning I completed my 4 mile run for Nashville 1/2 marathon training, and then after work I did workout a*. I could definitely feel the burn as I have never been good at keeping a decent weight routine!

Tuesday I did an Insanity DVD at home (not taking an extra rest day again like last week haha).

Wednesday morning I ran the 4 miles for training and then workout B* was waiting for me when I got home from work. This one was very hard to focus on because I knew I still needed to pack and get ready for leaving the next morning!

Thursday was travel day! I woke up at 3am central time (yuck) to get to the airport to leave for my flight at 7. It was my first venture driving to the airport alone and find parking, but I figured it out no problem! The night didn’t end until after 10 Seattle time, so it was a LONG day. But, I guess I should put in that I did walk around the city from our hotel to Pike’s Market as well as to the location of our meeting the next day to set up.

Friday I completed workout c* in my hotel room! Luckily I had a semi-suite that had a long path from the living area to the bedroom so there was enough space for a couple of the moves ;). This one definitely kicked my butt and I was quite sweaty after I was done!

Saturday was long run day. Another 7 miles complete for 1/2 marathon training, but more on that run and the rest of my time in Seattle in another post!

 

*workouts A, B + C are from Tina at Best Body Bootcamp, so I can’t give any information on what the routines were, but they were all fantastic!

 

nashville 2012: week 2

A little late on my recap from last week – I was way too busy being lazy and unproductive this weekend to write anything, or spend any time in the kitchen haha. My week at work was very busy, so it was definitely nice to have some down time to finally relax! Anyways, here are my workouts from last week:

Sunday: Yoga Body Bootcamp™
Monday: 5k run + 1m walk
Tuesday: Insanity Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs
Wednesday: 5k run + 1m walk
Thursday: Power Vinyasa
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 6m run

Pretty similar to last week and still right on track with the training plan! The only thing that wasn’t similar to last week was how difficult my 6 mile run was – it was not a fun time. I set out for a surprisingly warm February run, quickly shedding my gloves and earmuffs and wishing I had a t-shirt on underneath so I could shed a layer! The run was both mentally and physically exhausting for me and I’m not exactly sure why. Yes, it is the longest distance I’ve run since the Disney 1/2 Marathon, but I’ve also run this distance many many times in the past – even several 10k races that are technically .2 miles longer.

I knew it wasn’t going to be the best run right away, my legs felt heavy, my stomach felt off and I was already getting sweaty. And at that point there was still 5.9 miles to go! I thought about doing two loops just in case my stomach ended up feeling really bad, so I went toward my normal week day route even though I’m not a huge fan of that for longer/daylight runs. I ended up feeling fine stomach-wise, but my legs still felt tight and I obviously kept getting warmer and warmer. I ran around the first block and decided to just go out 3 miles and come back to eliminate the multiple loops I was originally planning. I think it was definitely a good choice to just go out and back, because it would have been way too easy to just head back home after the first loop!

I ended up taking numerous walking breaks and finished the run averaging exactly 11 minute miles. The course I ended up taking left me with a mile walk back at the end which was a very welcomed cool-down. I definitely wish this run would have gone better, but I do have many more weeks to go before running 13.1, and hopefully gain the confidence I need that apparently left me so quickly! I have another 6 mile run next Saturday – so here’s to hoping that one is less mentally and physically exhausting!

One productive thing I did this weekend was finally buy new running shoes! I’ve been debating what kind I wanted to buy. I haven’t liked my current ones so I knew I wanted something different. I ended up deciding on the Rykä Aspire. They appear to be a good medium between supportive and barefoot, so I’m hoping there’s enough cushion to avoid tendonitis again, but not too much to overcorrect my natural stride. Plus, I love the colors :). I got them from Zappos which is extremely nice because if I end up not liking them, it’s free return shipping! The standard shipping is 5 business days – I ordered them last night and already got a shipping confirmation – and it says they actually shipped with two day shipping?! So excited to try them out!

nashville 2012: week 1

Week 1 of Nashville training = done. Only eleven to go! Man, I have a feeling the next few months are going to fly :).

I stayed right on track with my training this week:

Sunday: Yoga Body Bootcamp™
Monday: 5k run + 1m walk
Tuesday: Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance
Wednesday: 5k run + 1m walk & Insanity Cardio Recovery
Thursday: Power Vinyasa
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 5m run

I really enjoyed all of my workouts this week, definitely a good start to training haha. Sister and I have been sitting on $30 of iTunes money since Christmas, and we finally decided to cash in part of it for some new tunes for our runs this morning. That definitely helped my motivation this morning! I was really worried that the weather was going to be super awful as the wind forecast was 17mph… I ended up being very happy when I woke up and couldn’t hear the wind outside! It was also sunny (sure sign of coldness, but I can’t really complain with how fair the weather has been for Wisconsin this winter). Weather.com tells me it was about 7* and only 12-13mph winds. Not too bad?

Well, I bundled up with two pairs of pants, a t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt and sweatshirt, two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves and a headband. I put on my iPod with the following playlist, and headed into the cold!

It was SO cold starting out, I was chilled, but the coldness was nothing compared to the blown over snow/not shoveled show on the sidewalks – so annoying! There were some places where the snow was a few inches deep, and then the snow was sticking to the bottoms of my shoes so my feet started to feel really heavy. The coldness didn’t bother me at all. I was actually quite overdressed and ended up being sweaty within a mile and a half. I was originally going to do a normal out and back route, but ended up taking a little longer route back so I could have a cool down 1/2 mile walk at the end. Even though I was over-temping and my legs were getting tired from the snow running, I pushed through the miles and ended up surprising myself with the pace I managed! I wonder if it was the music, or the just wanting to be done running in the snow that helped? I even took a couple walking breaks at the halfway point and a little later when I was in a big snow patch.

This is definitely a good way for my training to start out since my confidence in my running abilities barely exist ;). It’s only up from here on out! Hope you all have a fabulous Saturday!

nashville 2012 training plan

I really can’t believe I’ll be starting to train for the Nashville Rock n’ Roll 1/2 marathon tomorrow! The past month since the Disney 1/2 flew by and I am ready to start another training plan! I took “off” the last few weeks from any structured training or workout plan. My legs hurt pretty bad after Disney so it took a week or so to get back to it with running. I continued to walk that week to shake out my legs and eventually got up to a very slow running speed haha. I kept the first few runs at just a 2 mile distance and gradually increased to alternating 5k’s and 4 mile runs to get me back to a good starting point for the next training plan.

I ended up really enjoying my training plan for the Disney 1/2, adapted from Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 Program. I based the below training plan off of that for the most part, but made a few alterations and improvements from the last time around, as well as incorporated the one 10k (Shamrock Shuffle in March!) I am signed up to race. One of the biggest changes is switching from running Monday, Thursday, Saturday to Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. I ended up running and going to yoga every Thursday and it wore me out, so I figured that was an easy change – plus I never got into good cross training system for Wednesdays (aka cheaped out by not joining a gym) so I never quite knew what to do. Sunday workouts got more defined this time around – I’ll either do an Insanity DVD at home or go to a new Yoga Body Bootcamp at my yoga studio. I’m guessing I’ll love the Yoga Body Bootcamp (YBB for short on the plan), but it doesn’t start until this coming Sunday so I won’t know for sure until then haha. Any day I miss the class (or don’t feel like paying for a class), I’ll do a random Insanity at home.

 

*I am not a trained or licensed professional. This plan was created by me for my own personal use. Consult with a trained professional and/or doctor before beginning a training plan if you are unsure of your abilities.

disney 1/2 training: 10 miles

So it appears I took a little break from blogging this week. While many people were off and on an extended holiday, I was back at work on Tuesday and ended up having a very busy week. I was also coming down off a massive sugar high… getting a filling… and doing random time-sucking activities such as Pinterest and being around to let the furnace guy in to check out why our furnace was all of a sudden not quite working so great. I kept feeling a day behind at work, thinking it was the day prior each day so I was fairly unprepared for Friday to get here! I luckily (for relaxing purposes) have a three day weekend again, but then only two days of work and we’re off to FLORIDA for the Disney marathon! I really can’t believe it’s less than a week away…

This morning on my training plan was a 10 mile run. My first double digits! Sister decided to go 11 miles to finish out 2011, but I’ve decided I was definitely not ready for that. Plus, Sister also got a Garmin for Christmas and we ran together on Monday – my Nike+ on my iPod was around 10% off, meaning I was running 10% too little. I re-calibrated it so hopefully it’s a little closer to the actual distance and I really did go 10 miles today! Definitely feels like I did…

My weekly running this week was rough. I think a combination of my crappy sugar-filled diet over the weekend did not help matters, and I’ve been having this weird pulled muscle pain/knot under my right shoulder blade that will not go away. Needless to say, I did not have high expectations for this run. Running 10% more than I was used to on a 10 mile run that I’ve never run after two of the worst runs I have had all training long. Sounds like I’m ready for next week, huh?

Anyways, after not expecting much I didn’t end up doing too terrible. My shoulder was sore/tight through most of the run but it did seem marginally better post-run, so that’s a good sign that it’s not aggravated by it (I think it’s actually from a day-long coughing fit I had last week and has nothing to do with running). I decided to run out 3 1/2 miles and then come back and run another 3 mile loop. I would avoid some rolling hills this way and be fairly close to home at a few points if I needed to stop back for anything. I left at 9:15am and the weather was really sunny and in the 40’s – at least closer to Florida weather than it could have been! Overall my run went much better than Thursday’s 5 mile and finished with a 10:47 average – definitely not a speed demon, but as long as I can cross the start and finish line next week I’ll be happy!

I know I’ve already said it, but I can’t believe my first 1/2 marathon is a week away! Pretty sure I’m going to be a ball of nerves Friday night/Saturday morning, but being able to put on my finisher’s shirt and wear my Donald Duck medal will be worth it! One other thing… tomorrow is 2012?! Where did 2011 go? Yikes.

Happy New Years!

disney 1/2 training: 9 miles

I hope you guys don’t mind a brief break from the 12 days of cookies. We will resume tomorrow, but I wanted to keep up with my running recaps! Today on my half marathon training plan was a 10k – 6.2 miles. Well, I have been enjoying my long runs lately and my legs haven’t been real tired, so I thought that I would benefit more from another longer run to help with my confidence. I decided this on Tuesday, so I had plenty of time to chicken out if I wanted ;). Plus, if the weather turns to crap one of the next two weekends, I won’t be out a long run and thus feel incredibly unprepared for 13.1. The forecast was in the 20’s (definitely an improvement from 11° last week!), so it seemed like a good thing.

Well, I woke up this morning at 7am to our first accumulating snowfall of the season – seriously?! Luckily it was like a 1/4 of an inch (if that), so just enough to make it look like a coating of powder. It was in the 20’s, just like it was supposed to be and at least there wasn’t any hidden ice anywhere! In the morning I had my coffee (with my FAVORITE Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk – not sure what I’m going to do without it!), as well as two rice cakes with PB2. I sat around for a bit and then headed out at 8:39am (what would I do without Nike+? I had zero idea what time I left without looking). I tried to wear more clothing than last week’s freezing run, and ended up a little too over prepared with too many layers… oh well, maybe one day I’ll learn haha.

I felt slow the entire run and like I was working hard, and I didn’t have any sense of what pace I was running until the end. I think part of why it seemed like I was working so hard was that I was pretty sweaty and couldn’t easily shed any layers. My gloves were off, but it’s so annoying to carry them with you the entire way! I took a few shorter walking breaks throughout the run, but took a longer one at the 4 1/2 mile mark to take my Chocolate Clif Shot – I absolutely LOVE these things! I bought 7 of them at the store last night and they probably thought I was crazy.

After that point I felt loads more energized and the last half went much quicker, even though I was fairly consistent pace wise throughout. I really didn’t think I was going an average of 10:09 per mile… my iPod must need some calibration or the snow was helping me slide along or something. I think I also do better taking short walking breaks, because it makes me feel like I can go faster during the running portion since I know walking is there as an option whenever I end up needing it.

Once I got home, Sister was in a very pissy mood and I made her sign up for a full marathon. It’s amazing what I can talk people into. I should have been a lawyer. One of the best things about running 9 miles is the fact I burned roughly 1,059 calories. Definitely had some room for extra cookies today, but my appetite has been weird. I’ve felt really full all day and haven’t really had that much to eat compared to normal – not sure if it’s the running (abs hurting), or all the sugar from this week finally catching up to me! Oh well, my appetite will probably be back with a vengeance tomorrow and there will be no stopping me from devouring our new cookie creations :). Just have to be sure to snap some pictures first!

disney 1/2 training: 5 miles

I successfully made it through week 3 of my Disney 1/2 marathon training plan.  I had 3 1/2 mile runs on Monday and Thursday, and today I had a 5 mile run. Following last week’s not-too-successful 10k, decided to just go a comfortable pace and not push myself.  Since this is my first 1/2, I know that time should not be a goal at all, but my competitive nature is not wanting to accept that fact.  Plus, Sister now wants to run with me (poor choice on her part), but it will help me motivationally and will hopefully lighten me up during the race to enjoy it and be able to get some during the race photo ops with the various Disney characters that will be cheering us on!

The weather this morning was perfect for running.  It was a little chilly, but I was fine in pants and a long sleeved shirt.  I also found my new favorite running tool for winter – ear muffs!  I got a pair of 180’s last year and never really wore them, but now they have found their use!  I put them on with a regular headband, and around mile 3 I was able to easily remove them once my ears were warm.  They easily wound around my wrist and I didn’t have to try to re-put on my regular headband while running like I would have with any sort of hat or regular winter headband.  Although I must say that I am quite excited to be able to run in tank tops in less than ONE WEEK (Hawaii, I am definitely in need of a break from work, sun + warmth!).

Running definitely seemed easier this week from last, but that was to be expected.  My legs are definitely tired and beginning today I am cutting back on the amount of Insanity I’m doing.  During the first couple weeks of training I figured it would be fine to do additional Insanity exercise throughout the week, but that time has passed!  Insanity will now only be done during my cross training days on Sunday and Wednesday, and possibly the abs on Tuesday depending what Strength + Stretch I feel like doing.  Hopefully this helps my leg fatigue and makes me want to go further since it’s only up from here on out!

So, nothing spectacular with the run, but it’s one more down!  The next two will be in Hawaii so we will see how I do in a different climate than I’m used to, but regardless, I will be running in paradise!

In other news, I bought a new digital camera today and found a new appreciation for Amazon.  Sister and I went to Target, where I purchased a new Canon point and shoot for vacation.  I figured I would get a pretty good deal there and I have their debit card which means I get 5% off every purchase.  Well, I settled for my 2nd choice camera to save some money and an 8G memory card.  I (luckily) came home and went on Amazon, found my 1st choice camera and got an 8G memory card and saved $70!  Although $40 of the savings is from signing up for their credit card, but seriously, $30 less for the camera and memory card when I got a camera that was $20 more than the first one I got?  Can’t wait to get it so I can bring it with me on vacation – Amazon even offered me another month free of prime membership so I got FREE 2 day shipping.  Man, I love deals!

My new camera! A Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS

Happy Saturday!