Ran 3.1 miles in 39:50 @ 12:51 min/miles pace, weather was clear, temperature around 45 degrees, completed my first 5k ever!

Not quite to that level, but crossing that finish line with the announcer saying my name, my family cheering me at the side lines and Danny running beside me, it sure felt like it.

Don't get me wrong, during the race I wanted to quit a couple of times (not that it would have done much good - still have to make it back to the start/finish line! ) and I was cursing myself for thinking that it was a good idea. I made it through tho, and in a decent (for me) time. The one thing I wish I had done better was not walk as much (I speed-walked probably about 1/3 of the way total). Oh well, I have till May 29 to get into better shape for the 10k. Now that the weather is turning better I'll be able to train more outside on the pavement which I think will help with the walk/run ratio hugely.

Tomorrow starts my 10k training program! EEP!! But I'm afraid if I let any time lapse between programs, it'll be that much harder to get going again. This program is three days a week (Monday-Wednesday-Friday) and I am getting it through the Nike+ website. Tomorrow's run will be 2 miles. I can do that.

Day 18

Ran 2 miles in 30:00 @ 15:00 min/miles pace, weather was light rain, temperature around 41 degrees. TWO miles withOUT walking. :D And I even feel like I could have kept going, but didn't want to push too hard. Huzzah!

I feel like I could take on the world today. I'll most likely regret it tomorrow, but I did the above run, went to the gym and did the 30 minute circuit training (weights), 10 minutes spinning, and 10 minutes on the elliptical. For a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes worth of exercise.

And I feel great. :D

Day 18

Ran 1.2 miles in 12:40 @ 10:33 min/miles pace, weather was cloudy, temperature around 39 degrees...

Holy Cow! :D I ran at the park, and I'm thinking that running outside is much preferable to running on the treadmill and its unnaturally enforced pace. I am so proud of that time. :)

The one downside was that by the end of it my bum knee was bothering me. I have to start running outside on a regular basis if nothing else to get my joints used to it. The first of my three races is in 24 days. Eeep!

I can do this. :)

Day 17

Ran 1 miles in 13:28 @ 13:28 min/miles pace, weather was mostly cloudy, temperature around 39 degrees, Slowly cutting off those seconds. :)

Took almost 1/2 a minute off my time. I had hoped for 13:20, but I think this is pretty good. Upping the speed for another week and then I'll knock it back down and work on distance again. That's my plan anyway. :) Hopefully it'll be a good one.

Day 16

Ran 1 miles in 13:56 @ 13:56 min/miles pace, weather was light rain, temperature around 45 degrees.

And it felt good. By the end of it, I was panting and sweating, but pretty much as soon as I got done I was recovered within a minute. Which is a big step in the right direction. I also zoned out for the middle part of the run, which was nice.

I'll get there eventually. :)

Day 14

Ran 1 mile in 14:20 @ 14:20 min/miles pace, weather was cloudy, temperature around 48 degrees.

Yeah, its not much, but it was a really good pace (for me) and its the first I've run in two weeks. The first week I was sick and last week was the installation at work and I was asleep by 9 or so every night - No time for a run or energy for a run.

I also went to the gym today and did the 30 minute circuit and also did 30 minutes on my Wii Fit. I'm gonna try and get in 30 more minutes before I go to a friend's birthday party, but we'll see if that happens.

I decided to just do 1 mile today at a faster pace and build on that to this week to hopefully be up to 1 1/2 miles by next Sat. at this pace. Hopefully I'll make that happen. :)

Day 13

Ran 1.969 miles in 30:00 @ 15:14 min/miles pace, weather was sunny, temperature around 28 degrees.

Oh, yeah, I'm doing it. Today's run was Run 14 minutes, Walk 1 minute, Rpt. 2x. I also did 30 minutes on my Wii Fit this morning and I think I'm gonna go do a bit of Yoga on it now that I'm all warmed up from my run.

Tomorrow will be a HUGE mile stone for me in my training...I should run 15 minutes straight tomorrow which will be 1 mile without stop. Holy cow. That will be so big. :D

I've noticed that I'm getting to a point in my run when I just kind of zone out. Where its not hard or easy I'm just there, in the moment doing it. I am starting to love that feeling. I didn't even look at the clock today until almost minute 10. Is this zone out normal? I have no idea as I've never run like this before and I don't really know any runners other than Danny, but he doesn't really like to run, he just does it for exercise. Anyone out there have this feeling? (Does anyone even read this thing? LOL)

Ran 1.965 miles in 30:00 @ 15:16 min/miles pace, weather was cloudy, temperature around 45 degrees.

Excellent. :) I got off work early today (its New Year's Eve and the boss lady said go home, so I went) and the entire way home I was looking forward to running...

Talk about crazy, huh? LOL

Today's run was 13-1-13-2. And to think that 3 weeks ago I was struggling to make it through 3 minutes and now I'm up to 13. Its amazing and exciting and I'm very proud of myself.

Day 12

Bet you thought I'd stopped, huh? LOL No, just went home for Christmas, ate WAY to much food and enjoyed my time with my family instead of running.

The thing is, though, that I didn't want to be too far behind on my training, sooooooo tonight I ran 12 min, walked 1 min. rpt 2x, run 4 minutes. :D I did it and I don't feel dead! Huzzah!

Ran 1.966 miles in 30:02 @ 15:17 min/miles pace, weather was mostly cloudy, temperature around 32 degrees.

I am glad tomorrow is an Easy 30 minute walk day...although I think instead of walking I'm gonna do 30 minutes on my new Wii Fit Plus I got for Christmas. Sounds much more enjoyable than walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes.

Day 11

So I didn't run day 11. :P I know, I know, bad Sara. I'll do that run tonight - it was supposed to be a rest day anyway, so I'll just switch the days. I still feel lazy today because I didn't run last night though.

Today's run will be: Run 7 minutes, Walk 1 minute, Repeat 3x, Run 6 minutes.

I can and will do this.

Day 10

Today I ran 1.940 miles in 30 minutes for a pace of 15:28 min/mile. It was a Run 6 minutes, Walk 1 minute, Repeat 4x and then run another 2 minutes. Holy cow that 6 minutes felt like forever! I'm drenched in sweat and out of breath. Luckily tomorrow is the same as today, so I have another day to get used to the 6 minutes of running before I bump it up to 8 minutes. Although I think I might alter my scheduled run for tomorrow and do Run 7 minutes, Walk 1 minute, Repeat 3x, Run another 6 minutes for the 30 minutes. I don't think I can jump from 6 to 8.

Day 9

Well, I almost didn't run today, I'll be honest. But we were watching "Intervention" on A&E and the chick on there motivated me to get off my butt and on the treadmill. :) I'm glad I did. I always feel so much better about myself after I've worked out, I've just got to remember that when I don't want to work out.

Today's run was again, Run 5 minutes, Walk 1 minute; Repeat 5x.

I did 30 minutes, 1.941 miles for a pace of 15:27 minutes per mile.

Huzzah!

Day 8

Today's run was a bit of a killer. I think I'm coming down with something, and most likely shouldn't have run, but it felt good to do it. It was just a lot today.

Today's run was to Run 5 minutes, Walk 1 minute; Repeat 5x. I went 1.930 miles in 30 minutes for a pace of 15:34 minutes per mile.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Wait a minute! Wasn't Sara's pace faster yesterday?!"

You'd be right. Yesterday I tried to up not only the number of minutes out of the 30 I actually ran but also I tried to up the pace I did it at as well. This I've decided is a mistake. I'm going to first focus on actually being able to run the 3.1 miles and THEN I'll worry about working on speed. I should have a couple of weeks between the build up and the race to work on it in. I'm not trying to WIN, I'm just focusing on finishing. :)

Day 6

So again I did not wake up sore at all this morning. I keep expected, on a day after I push myself, to wake up all stiff and sore and not wanting to move, but so far its not happened yet. :) I see it as building gradually and my body is adjusting well to the increase each time, not that I'm moving too slowly. ;)

So far I have been doing the run part at a 4 mph pace and the walk at a 3 mph pace... since tonight is a repeat of last night's run I'm gonna bump that pace up just a touch. I'm gonna try the run at at 4.2 mph pace and the walk at a 3.2 mph pace. We'll see if that kills me or not. I'm gonna have to start moving a bit faster tho, if I want to get to a decent time, you know?

Tonight's run is: Run 4 minutes, Walk 1 minute; Repeat 6x for a total of 30 minutes.

Day 5

So I didn't end up doing my walk last night. I know, bad start, right? Instead I was asleep by 9 pm. I don't know if I'm coming down with something or what but this is getting silly. The day before last night I was asleep by 9:30 pm. I could not hold my eyes open any longer. Ugh. Tonight I will do my run tho. Yesterday I will use as my rest for this week, since it was just a walk any way, but I have to stick with the running part of the schedule.

Tonight's scheduled run is Run 4 minutes Walk 1 minute; Repeat 6 x.

Oh boy. I can do this, tho, I know I can. Just have to stay focused on my goals and see it through to the end. :)

Day 4

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

I am surprisingly not sore at all from last night's run. I really expected to feel it today. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that I am not hurting today, but its a bit of a shock. Tonight is an "Easy 30 Minute Walk" day, but I'm gonna bump up my speed to 3.2 mph instead of 3 mph which is what I did last time. I've gotta start upping my speed on the walk days so that I work on my speed overall.

I've put some Under Armour Cold Gear, new running shoes and the Nike+ sensor on my Amazon.com wish list, but I'm afraid its too close to Christmas to get any of it. We'll see. It'd be nice though so I don't have to buy the stuff. One way or the other, after Christmas I'm gonna be getting all of the above so I can start (kinda) comfortably training outside at least once a week, maybe twice.

I have a love/hate relationship with the treadmill. I love that I can run inside and now deal with the cold, but its so boring and I know that its not the same as outside training. I have learned that I can't run and watch TV...I'm a music and run kinda gal. It keeps me much more focused and the beat helps me keep pace.

I'll do another post later tonight with my thoughts of doing the 30 minutes at a 3.2 mph pace. :)

Day 3

As it says, I am training for three races for the year 2010. There will be a 5k in February, a 10k in May and then the St. Jude 1/2 Marathon in December. Oh boy! This is where I will post what I am doing training wise and my thoughts on the training.

Water consumption has been good today. I drank 1 of my water bottles full this morning and then have had 1/2 of one this afternoon. I plan on finishing it before I leave work.

Day 1 (Sunday, December 6, 2009): Run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute for a total of 30 minutes (1.8 miles for a 16.25 minutes per mile pace) - I did this without a hitch. There were a couple of times that I was really ready for that two minutes to be up, but I did it and felt great.

Day 2 (Monday, December 7, 2009): Easy walk for 30 minutes (1.5 miles at a 1% incline for a 20 minutes per mile pace). I wasn't even sweating by the end of it. I wanted to quit at the 20 minute just because I was bored. Not good, I know, but I finished the training for the day and tonight will have some running.

Day 3 (Tuesday, December 8, 2009): Run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute for a total for 30 minutes. My goal is to meet this goal with a pace of at least 16.25 minutes per mile. I hope to knock some time off of that, but we'll see.