Monday, January 16, 2012

7 Weeks --> R&R NOLA

My mom's surgery was postponed one week. She is in surgery as I type. (Yay, wifi in the waiting room!) That threw some things off schedule but also gave me time to really get over the cold I'd had since the 1st.

I managed a short 25 minutes on the treadmill on Friday. That felt good to run again. Then Sunday, I did the LSD with the ARC. My running buddy and I managed about 7.6 miles! Woot! My lungs felt great. My legs felt great for about 4 miles. Then I felt tired. Then I felt sore. But, I'm glad we did it. I wanted to stretch my legs and see where I am after missing about 2 weeks of running. It had been so long since I did a training run that I'd forgotten how to use my Garmin. :-(

I have a 10M race on tap for Saturday. I'm a little worried about it. I am still pretty sore from the LSD yesterday. But, I think after a rest day today and a shake out run in the week, I'll be able to finish it. Walk breaks will be my friend.

My plan is to use the February 10 miler as my test to see if I can maintain the pace I want to keep during the New Orleans half. I think that's a good plan. And, it will be a good pacing test. I've never run with a specific pace in mind. And even though I missed two weeks of training, I can still use the same training plan because my race is two weeks after the race the club is training for. So, I don't feel too terribly worried.

So, here I go, back on my feet. Time to work harder and stay focused on the goal!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

R&R NOLA --> 8 weeks (or so) to go!

Holy moley, where did the time go?!

I've been sick since the new year and haven't managed to increase my weekly training miles. I didn't think it was possible but I think over the last couple of weeks I've run even fewer miles than I had been. Ugh. I'm not worried though. I just need to get over this cold and get back to it.

I ran the first of the Winter Distance Series races back on December 17th. I ran the 10K and felt pretty ok. I started out with my running buddy Sarah and we had a good pace going at the start. About half way through I decided to push it a little but I think I started too fast too soon because I had to walk a little later on. All in all it was a good training run and I was happy with it. I ended up finishing with my 2nd fastest 10K time! Woot!

After that weekend, I did a maintenance run on Monday. Friday I visited a CrossFit gym in my neighborhood and had a fitness assessment there. Then it was Christmas. The Monday after Christmas, in the morning, Sarah and I did about 7 miles on the creek path. In the afternoon, I went back to CrossFit for a 20 minute workout assessment. I was pretty tired after all of that!

Ya know, looking back on it, that's when my cough first started...

New Years Day was a Resolution Run 5K. I was really starting to feel the brunt of this cold at that point but since I'd registered, and the ARC team was going to be out in force, I dragged myself out there. Once we got going I felt really good. The pace was nice and easy which gave me enough to finish strong at the end. This 5K was the very first race I've ever run the entire way without any walk breaks. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this running thing. It sure felt good to finish strong. The timing system was weird but no matter what it actually was, it was my second fastest 5K time. Woot!

This Sunday is the ARC's first group run of the new year. I should be up to 8 miles but we will have to see how I feel after such a long break and this cold.

My mom's knee surgery is Monday. After that I'll be working from home. That means no commute which also means more time to run. I hope so anyway. We'll have to see how my mom feels post-op.

I really liked the CrossFit gym. The owner is a runner and was excited about my running goals and how CrossFit would fit into my training plan and schedule. I'll probably sign up after my mom's surgery when I have a better idea of my schedule.

8 weeks until New Orleans. That doesn't seem like very much time. I still need to get my plane ticket. And start running some hills or speed work. Focus.

Next up, Frosty's Frozen Five & Ten on January 21. I'm doing the ten miler. That seems far. My longest so far this training session has been 7 miles. But, it is a training run so no worries. And an automatic PR since I've never raced this distance. Woot!