So first things first, I really want to start shopping for new fall clothes. Unfortunately the weather forecast is still showing high 80s for the next 7 days... at least the evenings are cooling off a bit and today is the only day above 90F. And the humidity has been lower.... so I guess I can't really complain. But definitely not fall weather anytime soon...
Anyway, way back in June I mentioned some new running goals for the year, starting on my birthday. My ultimate goal was to run 1200 miles in a year, which comes out to 100 miles/month. So far, I'm almost 3 full months in - officially Day 85, and I have run 198 miles. So all in all, I'm a little behind:
Day 85 = 23% of the year finished
Mile 198 = 17% of miles complete
But, that has been by design, so I'm not really to worried. My mileage will pick up when I start training for the longer races in the winter. My short term goal for the summer has been to work on my speed at short distances.
I used Hal Higdon's Intermediate 5k Training Plan for the first 10 weeks (his plan is 8 weeks, but I think I repeated Week 1 three times to get started), and right now I just finished Week 3 of the 8-week Intermediate 10k Plan.
I didn't really keep track of my times before I started these training plans, but I do know that I typically ran 10 minute mile or slower (hence my previous goal of finally running 3 miles at a 9:00 pace - took me forever to get there!). So for all intensive purposes, we can assume my starting times were ~32 mins (5k) and ~62 mins (10k). So far, I've taken off almost 8 mins on the 5k time and almost 10 mins on the 10k time, so I'm really pleased. Here's what the Garmin Connect website says are my current "personal records" thanks to my hand new GPS watch:
I uploaded the half-marathon manually since I didn't have the watch back then. Overall, I'm really pleased with my progress. I think most of it was a mental battle to break out of my 10 min/mile rut, but I also know that being almost 40lbs lighter was a huge advantage! These times aren't official races, just training runs, but I think my watch is pretty accurate and either way it shows improvement!
My next goals are to break 24mins on my 5k time at the end of Week 4 (next weekend) and then to break 51 mins on my 10k time by the end of the 8 week schedule (Oct 14th). After that, the half marathon training starts in prep for Dallas on Dec 9th. Per the McMillan Running Calculator, if I can hit the times above, I should be able to go under 1:55 for my half marathon time, which would take 25 minutes off my time from last March. Who knows how accurate that thing is, but a lot of this is a mental battle so if I can convince myself 1:55 is achievable then that will definitely help!!
Also, in terms on training plans, I really recommend using one. But I also really recommend modifying whatever plan you choose to better fit your life. If the plan has 4 runs/week and you only have time for 3, either drop one or look for another plan online that meets you schedule - there are plenty out there. I usually take a training plan from online and then type it into a spreadsheet so I can easily keep track of what I've completed and change anything I want to from the base training plan. I originally used this half marathon training plan from Running In the Family, which comes in an excel template. I still use that template by just typing in a new training plan from online, like the Hal Higdon ones I mentioned above.
I know a lot of people are fans of the Couch to 5k plan for beginners. I have never used it specifically, but it it basically the same as what I did when I first started running - rather than trying to run until you drop, it breaks it down into manageable intervals alternating running/jogging and walking. That way you can gradually build up the distance you can run without totally burning out in the process.
Sorry for all the running chatter, but I am pretty excited about it recently! Weight is still around 132 - it came up a bit after Sam and I were out of town for Labor Day but those extra pounds came off through the week. As much as I really want to get below 130, I have also been eating like crap recently so I can't really blame anyone but myself for not meeting that goal yet. I'm finally settling into my job and I don't have too much travel coming up in the next few weeks, so hopefully we can get out of our bad eating slump. Case and point, yesterday I had three doughnut holes at work, even though I had already had breakfast. And probably about 20 tootsie rolls from Lori's candy jar. Last night we went out to eat and we were totally stuffed, so naturally, we went by Dairy Queen for blizzards afterwards. Why are sweets so addicting?!? Here's to eating a little cleaner next week....
No comments:
Post a Comment