my achy back!

So I am on day 4 of being on rest because I tweaked my back! 5K jingle bell run tomorrow -- which I have been VERY excited for. Now I may be forced to "hobble"  it. Boo. -- I'll give a complete recap on the event tomorrow.

Half marathon training!

My plan was to start my half-marathon training yesterday. I am not off schedule by any means, I actually ran more then planned up at the track with my father-in-law. One good thing about running at the track with John is he pushes me on. The last couple times we have run together, he has me attempt to run a 10 minute mile for our last mile. Usually our 4th or 5th mile. By this time, I am tired... I don't think I can do it.. and I feel like I am going to die halfway through.. but you know what? Last night I hit 9 minutes and 53 seconds. The time before that it was 10 minutes and 10 seconds. So I AM getting better.

Now onto half marathon training talk. I found a 12 week program. Now my half-marathon is actually going to be in April, so that is 5 months away. So I should be very prepared for it.... I'll have to maintain my fitness for awhile, but I am totally ok with running some extra long distance for an extended period of time. I hope to get my milage up, and then maybe even start to work on some speed. See if I can get this thing done in under 2 hours. Not likely..... but a girl can try! :)

For my 12 week progam, I am actually going to start on week 5. The first 4 weeks are basically the same milage I have been maintaining for the last 2 months so I dont think I am going to start over.... I guess you could say then, that I have been training for my half-marathon since the end of October! haha! I might find a different one to attempt earlier in the 2012 year.

Well enough for now. I need to get back to work! Catch you in a few days.

Wet and Rainy November...

Training in November has been a love hate relationship. Last night, on my planned 6 mile run, I only made it about 3.5 miles before I had to call it quits. The rain was coming down so hard that I soaked through pretty much everything I was wearing. 

My Father-in-law received some rain gear last week for his birthday. I am seriously considering picking up some of that for my extra rainy runs! Who cares how weird I look -- it really beats having to cut your run shorts because roads are flooding and there isn't a dry stop on you. 

Well enough complaining for one day. I hope I have found the solution for at least my feet getting wet. I ordered myself a pair of Sockwas. Now these are basically a neoprene sock with some plastic on the bottom. But I believe they are more or less waterproof. I think my Vibram Five Fingers need to rest on days of pouring rain. So I plan to give these Sockwas a shot! I will let you know how it goes. 

For now, on Saturday I did a nice 6.4 mile run. I realized that I DO have my first 12K coming up in 3 weeks and I have neglected to get my distance high enough to handle that without injury. I will be attempting a "12K trial run" this coming Saturday for my long run. But for the mid week runs, I have a long 6 mile run planned for Wednesday, but I think for Tuesday and Thursday I will hang out at the 4 mile range. ---

Looks like overall, my goal of hitting 80 miles run in the month of November is going to be hard to beat. I will fall at a solid 70 miles run, but 80 is a tall order. Not to worry, December will be (more rainy) but more intense. I hope to hit a total of 100 miles run with an average of 25 miles per week. 

In addition, I have decided.... who needs to wait until January to start new goals? Half Marathon training starts now! 

Catch you later, hopefully with Sockwalicious news! 

A bunch of running!

It has been 10 days since we spoke last and I have really been pounding the pavement. I have clocked a couple 5+ miles runs, which is GREAT considering that my 12K run is coming up in a little under a month.

I ran the greenlake gobble 5K, which proved to be a blast and I beat the time for my previous 5K by 1 minute. I have my next 5K coming up in about 2 weeks and that I hope I will be able to shave off even 1 more minute from my time.

I still had to walk for a little bit in it because I was pushing myself pretty hard. I think if I can push myself to the same speed and not allow myself to walk and to keep pushing on, I think I should be able to clear off a minute from my time. I hope!

Today I hit a trail run for the first time. It was a blast and I plan to add one in every week on either a Saturday or a Sunday.

Sorry I have been so bad about writing, but I will be better. For now -- Happy Thanksgiving and I will catch up with you later.

Oh where were my running legs?

Tonight I run a slow slog of a 2.5 mile -- I felt totally unmotivated to keep going.

Although, I did download twilight on audio to listen to on my repetitive grinds of winter runs. That was actually pretty nice!

Need to pick up the distance for the rest of the month! It is going to be a tall order to hit my 80 total miles goal for the month.

Running in the dark!

I hit the streets for a planned 5 mile run. I walked out of my apartment and started jogging to the street. The wind was howling and the rain was pounding. Basically, it was pretty dang miserable. I am trotting along thinking things to myself like.... "this is real dedication" or "... This isn't even winter yet... and this is awful and miserable.. but I'll keep going." -- Basically I had to coach myself to keep running and not run screaming back to the apartment, cuddle up with a blanket, and a nice warm cup of tea!

Well after my plowing against the rain and wind for 3 miserably slow miles, the power went out. Now I am already running in the dark, but with house lighting and street lighting, it really isn't toooo dark. I had decided not to bring my head lamp today because with the pouring rain, it just reflects and makes it HARDER to see. But now I am out.. in the middle of a pitch black neighborhood without any lighting. --- with 2 scheduled miles to go.

I start to walk a little bit... let my eyes adjust to the new pitch-blackness which is my running route. After about a minute I start to slowly jog... get a little bit down the street and slip on a pile of leaves and fall on my face.

Needless to say, I did not finish my last two scheduled miles and went straight home.

Long run and plans for the future

Tonight I had a late night run. Started my trek at about 8:30... But suprisingly the moon was full and bright without a cloud in sight.. I put in an easy 4.5 mile run.

12k in a month
2012 is the year of the half marathon
2013 is the year of the marathon