Unplanned Half Marathon PR

Half marathon training has been a little bit up and down over the past month. In early October I was doing great, but the middle of the month was a bit tough due to work getting pretty stressful!

Only about 10 days out from the race now, and although I wish I had done a bit more training this month, I am still feeling prepared! I had one great long run a few weeks ago that definitely helped build my confidence going in to the race - I ran 13.1 miles (half marathon distance) faster than my time from the Dallas Half Marathon last year!

The run was originally scheduled to be 80 minutes at long run pace (typically 9:40-10:00 min/mile for me) and then 40 minutes at 'marathon pace', which essentially should be about 15-30 sec/mile slower than my planned half marathon pace - so around 8:45 min/mile.

The weather was so nice when we started the run (Sam was with me) that I got off to a faster start and ran the first few miles at a 9:15-9:20 pace. I think I was just really excited for it not to be so darn hot outside! And then I started thinking that if I ran the first 4 miles at 9:20, then 5 miles at 9:00, then 4 miles at 8:40, then I could beat my half marathon time from last year (9:04 min/mile average).

I didn't tell Sam what I was thinking until we were almost done with the run just in case I wimped out! The last few miles were tough but by that time I had put in multiple miles below 9 min so I wasn't going to be that close and not finish strong.

I can't wait until the weather cools off even more! I'm really glad I had that good run because the few weeks after weren't filled with too many miles. Hopefully the weather is just as nice or better for the race!

Back Again?

Hi all. Obviously it has been awhile! This summer was really busy in a fun way, but I also was totally kicked off of my routine - including blogging.  The thought of catching up on everything that has happened in the last 4 months is incredibly daunting, so I think I'll just pick up where things are today and sprinkle in some highlights from the summer (and some I still owe you guys from last spring) as I have time to get to them!

Anyway, after I finished my 1200 mile goal in June (yes, I did make it!), I took a bit of a running hiatus for a few weeks because 1) I had been running a lot and 2) it was soooo hot outside. Then in August I picked back up and started a half marathon training plan. I am signed up for a half marathon on November 8th in Port Arthur, which is just about 30 minutes from here so we won't have to travel which is nice!

The training plan I have been using is from the Garmin training website and basically I am using it out of convenience - all of the runs are time-based durations/intervals and I can download them directly to my watch which is great! The basic scheme of the training plan is:

M - rest
T - intervals
W - easy run
T - intervals or hard run
F - rest
S - random - some weeks easy run, some weeks hard
S - long run

There are also extra 30 minute recovery runs in the mornings on Tue/Thu in the plan, but I haven't been doing those because we all know I am not a morning person :) And I don't think I need that many miles anyway.

It has still been really hot out, but hopefully will cool down in the next few weeks! The interesting thing about the runs being based on time, and not distance, is that I usually don't realize how far I have gone until I look at my watch. Today's run was a good example - 15 minutes at easy pace, 15 minutes at race pace, 4 intervals at 10k pace with rest in between, then 15 minutes at race pace.

Somehow that turned into 8 miles - a pretty long run for a weekday! But since I was just running for time, I didn't pysch myself out beforehand like I would have if I had thought I was setting out to run 8 miles!

Other than running, my weight maintenance is going okay. I am up about 5-6 pounds over the summer. We did lots of traveling, which usually meant bad eating, which also meant I was more likely to eat bad even when we were home! But I'm hoping to be back down to 130 before the holidays.

Anyway, time to shower and get to bed! Hope you are all doing well.

Breaking In the New Shoes....

First of all, I had a great weekend in NC! I'll post a recap tomorrow hopefully. But I wanted to stop in with the weekly stats from last week, so here they are:

You can see my running schedule was all messed up last week, but I managed to get all the miles in eventually! I've been lucky that my legs have been feeling good enough to allow me to run 20 miles on the weekends!

I keep forgetting to weigh myself in the morning, I think because I've been extra tired in the mornings recently - probably a combination of all the running and allergy season! I haven't checked it since I've been back from NC, and I bet despite all the running I put on at least a pound or two with all the eating I did. I'm going to have to be careful with all the travel we have coming up this summer!

---

I mentioned last week that I really needed new running shoes - my feet had been hurting and both of my pairs of shoes had over 450 miles on them. So on Thursday I finally went out and picked up these beauties:

They are Asics GT-2100. I've been running in Asics for awhile now - before I had the GT-2170s, but they have been replaced by the 2100s. I was a little worried because some of the online reviews said people could really tell a difference with the new model, but they feel the same to me!

I actually already ordered the exact same shoes through Sam's Mom (she has access to a discount program), but we won't be getting those for a few weeks and I just felt that I really needed new ones if I was going to make it to the 1200 mile goal without injuring my foot since it was already hurting. I tried on a bunch of other shoes to avoid ending up with two of the same pair, but in the end nothing else felt quite right. Doesn't help to have extra shoes around - plus, the bright colors are awesome, obviously, so at least I'll have two pairs of a shoe I love!

---

I titled this post 'breaking in the new shoes' because I had quite an eventful run on Sunday. I ended up getting a bit turned around on my route and missed a turn. By the time I figured it out I decided just to go back the way I came rather than finish the route because it would be ~14 miles if I kept going and I had told my Mom I would be back by a certain time. So, I adjusted my route and headed back the way I came so that I could finish at ~12 miles and be home in time.

It had been kind of rainy all weekend, but the weather was pretty sunny when I left so I was hoping I wouldn't get rained on! I was out of luck though, because when I was still about 3.5 miles from the house it started pouring. As in, it was a torrential downpour. Luckily there wasn't a lot of thunder/lightning and I was wearing very bright, visible clothing so I felt safe, but I was just soaked!

I had left a map of my route up on my Mom's computer before I left, but since I had altered my route, even if they went out to try to find me they wouldn't be looking in the right place! I don't run with my phone (and if I had it would have been soaked too!) so I knew I would have to run the rest of the way back.

Luckily it wasn't a cold rain, but I was bummed about getting my new shoes totally soaked. By the end I was just running straight through 4-5 inch puddles/streams in the street because I was already so wet that it didn't matter. I was definitely motivated to run faster though:

I started picking up the pace after mile 7 when I had gotten turned around and was worried about making it home on time. But then sometime during mile 9 or 10 it started raining and I was going as fast as I could with water-logged shoes after that!

I have definitely been more sore/tired after that run than usually - but that might also have something to do with being totally off my normal sleep schedule this weekend too! But my shoes are all dried out now and appear to be just fine. Here's to hoping my next few runs are much less eventful :)

Busy Summer!

Well I guess I have been a bit MIA again this week, but I am working on it! Work has been a bit hectic - I've been able to keep my running basically on track this week, although my eating definitely hasn't been the best - Outback last night & Chick-fil-a tonight. Back to back splurging on weeknights isn't typically my style, but oh well!

This weekend I am super excited to be heading to NC for my sister's prom weekend! I'll also get to see one of her band concerts Sunday afternoon since I decided to take half a day of vacation and not fly back until Monday morning. Since the band concerts are usually on a weeknight, I have not been to a single one since she has been in high school (although I have made a marching band competition every year I think!).

Last year she made her super amazing Starburst dress, but senior year she is going to go more traditional. I am super excited to see her dress, help her get ready and get to meet her boyfriend for the first time!

We're actually going to be fairly busy over the summer, so hopefully I'll have lots to blog about! I'll actually be out of town for the next three weekends - prom this weekend, then we go to Colorado to Sam's aunt/uncle/cousins over Memorial Day (very excited for that!), and then back to NC the next weekend for graduation celebrations for my sister (Sam is coming with me for that one).

The rest of June will be fairly calm, but then it's back to NC for a week to go to the Carolina Beach, and then we'll be going to Wisconsin at the beginning of August for cottage weekend with Sam's family. A few of my favorite pictures from last summer:

We were so tan! Last year at Carolina Beach

Tubing at cottage weekend in Wisconsin

Finally, we are probably going to Kansas City for Sam's cousin's wedding over Labor Day. So all in all it should be a fun summer - we aren't taking a big vacation together like last year's cruise, but I think we'll have enough going on to keep us happy!

Also, it is ridiculous that I am up blogging at this time of night. This is how I get wild and crazy when Sam goes to Houston for work - up after midnight! Time to get some sleep to I am ready for the weekend. And for once, I am going to try to take some pictures with my family - I don't seem to have any good recent pictures and it is driving me crazy! So hopefully I'll be back with a prom update soon :)

Weekly Stats & Weekend Recap

Instead of just doing a weekly weigh in, I thought it might be fun to post a weekly stat sheet on Sundays or Mondays. Weight maintenance isn't the most exciting thing ever - I don't get to talk about a bunch of lost pounds each week anymore, so I thought I could spice it up by including some running data too? So, without further ado, here were my stats for last week -

Obviously I didn't do a great job of writing down my weight last week, but it was consistently in the right range so that was good! Also, I missed a weekday run because I was lazy and because my foot was hurting, but I made up for it on the weekend. Both of my pairs of running shoes have over 400 miles on them, so it is time for some new ones for sure! I can definitely tell me feet are hurting more over the past few weeks.

---

In other news, I forgot to mention that on Thursday I was able to attend a local conference with the women's network from my office. I went to several different sessions throughout the day, but by far the best part was the keynote speaker - Jewel!

I wish I could have gotten a better picture but the lighting was terrible for a phone pic, obviously. She was an amazing speaker and she sang quite a few songs also so it was a double whammy! In telling her life story, she was absolutely hilarious at times and had us all close to tears at other times. She talked a lot about being responsible for your own happiness and working for it (rather than expecting it) as well as concentrating on the things we can control - our own thoughts and actions. And of course her voice was amazing and she even did her trademark yodeling too.

---

We had a pretty relaxing but fun weekend. On Friday night, I went to a party at a co-workers house to celebrate the upcoming weddings of two girls that I work with. There were about 15 of us there and we had a fun time drinking wine, chatting and giving a few gifts to the ladies of honor or course!

Saturday night, Sam & I had our friends Daniel & Mallory over for dinner and games. We haven't seen them as much recently, so it was good to hang out. Sam even made chocolate lava cakes (should have taken a picture!) and they were delicious.

Otherwise, I mostly took care of the typical weekend stuff - grocery shopping, running and watching Netflix! I did make some casseroles to freeze since we are going to be traveling a good amount over the next few weeks. I've never frozen casseroles before, but I figured it might come in handy so hopefully it will turn out well! I made Chicken & Wild Rice (we had this Saturday night too, it was delicious but no necessarily low cal...) and Chicken Tetrazzini, which I haven't tried out yet.

Of course I didn't manage to take any pictures of the fun stuff, but I did snap this one at the grocery store to document the mayhem. I don't usually shop on Saturday afternoon and now I remember why!! There were 9-10 checkout lines open and all of them had 4-5 people lined up - boo.

Luckily I made it out alive! Today is a rest day to recovery from yesterday's long (and hot!) run, so I think I am off to run some errands and maybe buy new running shoes. Maybe ones that won't get holes in the toes like all my other pairs??

---