O-M-Geee 3/20/12

Looking at my ticker, I'm 5 days away from being in the 7 month range of my goals.  7 months.  Wow! 

Today I ran a 4 miler, including a mile WU and CD.  I started off facing the sun.  Yuck.  The first mile sucked.  I could feel my energy draining.  I looked across the street and there was more shade there, so I turned around and went back.  SO MUCH BETTER!  The heat has always been my enemy.  I know the heat will slow me down and its going to be uncomfortable, but I just fall apart when faced with it.  I've got to start getting up early now that the heat is here and do my runs in the morning.  Plus, I hate doing them in the evening as I would rather be home at that time.  Once I can get used to getting up early again, it's not a problem.  It's like when I used to stay up all night in high school.  If you can make it through that point where you want to close your eyes & sleep, you can stay up all night.  I know.... I'm a little crazy. 

I haven't stayed up all night since those days and don't really care to, but, I do want to learn to sleep 4-5 hrs a night and still feel good the next day.  But that's a story for another day.  lol

So anyways, the next 2 miles were wonderful!  I had negative mile splits: 12:25, 12:00, 11:53.  The last .20 mile, I was running at about a 9 mile pace!  What a great feeling!

Nothing new on the school forfront.  Classes are going well, I have an exam and paper due.  Tomorrow I plan to work on the paper and study.  I also plan to run at least 3 miles and maybe make it into a tempo run.   

3/14/12

Last night I did my tempo run.  It took me some time to find my right pace since I have not run a 5k in quite awhile.  I decided to do 2 miles at tempo and figured I'd start at about a 12:15 pace.  Well, that was actually too slow so I spent the next few mins trying to find the right pace.  At some points, I was running around a 10 min pace, which I know was too fast, but my Garmin was also still adjusting.  I think 11:30 is going to be my starting point next tempo run.  I finished the 2 miles in a little over 23 mins. 


I also did CXWorks last night and I'm starting to notice a difference in my strength.  They are getting "easier" to do.  We do lots of planks, bicycle crunches, and shoulder work and I usually end up with a knot in my stomach.  It's a great feeling! 
Here is one of the exercises that really works me out.  This guy makes it look easy!

I have signed up for a 5k in April and I'm very excited.  I don't think I'll be breaking a PR, but at least I am motivated again.

The exam I took the other day had a couple errors on it.  Two questions were marked wrong when they should have been right.  The instructor acknowledged the error and is working to fix it, so that is a good thing.  This quarter, so far, has been less stressful than the last.  Don't get me wrong, it is still a lot of work though.  I have to say though, the hardest class last quarter was my favorite.  I felt I learned a lot about organizational structure and leadership.     

Gasparilla photos and Weekly Training

I hate race pics.  Very rarely do they turn out decent for me.  Usually, I look like I'm half dead, constipated, or I have, as a friend called, it "Einstein hair"....



All in good fun, I suppose.  My Gasparilla finish pic was the best out of this bunch.  



(photo credit: marathonfoto.com)           

I never buy race pics, but they are fun to look at.  I would have bought the ones from a half last year, but they all looked terrible.  Hopefully my marathon finish photo turns out good.... but after 26.2 miles, I can't hope for much.  

I didn't get to jog last night.  There were several issues at work I was dealing with and I had to catch up on some assignments for school as well.  It was also my late night at work, so I was exhausted when I got home.  To make up for it, I will do my CXWorks tonight at the gym (core training) and then run 3 miles after that.  I'm normally pretty pumped after CX, so I should have a boost of energy. 

My training plan is for the next 3 months to build up my running base again to where I was last year- distance wise.  If I'm not quite as fast, that's ok.  The longest distance I had ever run was 16 miles.  I felt like felt like dying, but I did it.  :-)  Then for the next 5+ months, I will be working on getting up to the marathon distances.  I haven't really laid out that plan yet... whether I will try to run 26 miles at least once, or only 20-22 miles as some plans say to do.  

Here is what I do have planned for my weekly training:

Today:  CXWorks, 3 mi run

Wed: 3-4 mi run

Thurs: Spinning, CXWorks

Friday: Rest

Saturday: CXWorks

Sunday: 6 miles

All of this I will be working around my school schedule.  I have an exam, a quiz, and a paper due.