2.3 recovery day

I couldn't run. My legs just literally wouldn't go!!! My jogging pace was actually slower than my walking pace. How pathetic. Soooo, recovery pace and a lot of sunshine on this lovely thanksgiving day. I guess that's okay!
I think the incredibly tough workout on the mountain yesterday really did a number on my muscles - they were just fatigued today.
I am still glad I went out and walked/attempted to jog 2 miles. At least that is more mileage on my legs when every step counts! And I don't have to feel so bad having a little pumpkin tart later!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

4.0

Hiked 4 miles with the kids today. Slow and steady. Very steep. We all got a great workout in!! :)

3.6

Today I walked a nice long 3.6 miler. I had every intention of going out and running, and then well, to be perfectly honest, I got a very needed phone call from a friend, so, I popped in my bluetooth and walked and talked for just under an hour. I personally think I made a fantastic pace, considering the fact that I was gabbing the whole time!
Loved being outside in the sunshine!

I have thought about doing the Fiesta Bowl 5k race in the beginning of December, but my darling will be out of town and we still don't really know anyone here, so babysitting is an issue. SO, I will wait and do the toys for tots later in the month with my mom. I have planned to walk it with her since that is something we can do together. :)

I will use that day as a part of my training for running the 5k in January. I am excited for that! I also need to start shopping for a 10k!!

2.5

Yesterday I ran 2.5 miles on the track. It was the first time in this training that I had run quite so far, straight. And it was on the track - which I HATE! I just felt so good and Emma was in dance class around the corner so I had time, and I was SO into my music, so I kept going.
I am doing fine today except this pain in that same knee again. My muscles feel fine. A little stiff, but not bad. I am taking today off, and getting up early tomorrow and going outside for my run.
Tim is off, for the next three days so that is nice, I will take the chance to get some outside workouts in before Thanksgiving.

Don't know what's up with the knee but Tim said it's likely my it band giving me trouble so he said he would massage it out for me tonight. What a great guy, huh?

Random thoughts on "the plan"

SO, my goal this year is to set realistic but challenging goals and to actually accomplish them!

I do not have a mileage goal.

But I do have a race goal:

In 2010 I will run (not walk) a half-marathon.

I will likely shoot for the spring since the winter here is the best time to train. I have a few races I am looking at, I just have to talk to my husband and see which one he thinks will work for us, since they all involve travel.

Right now I am training for a 5k. I am going to walk/jog one here in December and then RUN one in January - right before we go home for a visit. I will look at doing one while I am in St. Louis as well. We shall see.

And then I will begin my training for the half. I may stretch out my training by doubling up weeks in the beginning in order to simply get more miles on my legs before I build too much, if that makes sense. (My husband's suggestion - being the long distance coach that he is, I always ask him for training advice!) That being said, some of this depends on the date of my Half. But for the sake of my endurance, I may really need to!

I will keep you posted.

1

So I woke up this morning with junk in my throat, hard to swallow & feeling like a truck hit me in my sleep. Doesn't help that I was up until about 1:30 editing pics for my cookbook. Sigh.

Forced a hot shower & the blowdryer 'cuz I knew it would make me feel better all day if I looked decent. Then dressed in yoga pants, my favorite running jacket & tennies thereby increasing the odds of me getting any exercise at all today.

Took the kids to Build & Grow and then Timmy to basketball. There is an indoor track above the gym so that when you are walking or running on the track, you can still see your kid playing. So since Tim came to the game and was down on the gym floor with Emma watching the game, I figured I would pop in the old ipod and head upstairs for a little movin' & groovin'.

I only had 15 minutes since they were already in the 2nd half of the game. So I walked 5 laps, ran 5 laps and then walked the last 5. 15 laps = 1 mile. I was pleased that I got done right when they were finishing up the game.

As I walked to warm up I felt fantastic, and then the run, on the concrete track really hurt my knees. Ugh. So the last 5 lapes were painful.

Well, at least we got a free lunch at Chick- Fil-A (they were handing out coupons at the basketball game).

I am feeling like total crap now. So I am going to take some ibuprofen, have a HOT bath and probably curl up for a nap. I have to do my pilates & core workout but I will likely wait and do that before bed tonight.

2.86

Yeah, so I love Daily Mile. :) It makes me happy.

I took the kids on a long walk tonight - not exactly at workout pace, but it was more about the mileage. I wanted to get more miles on my legs. Tomorrow is pilates & a track workout so it was nice to get out into the fresh evening air and motor!

When we got home I mapped my route on Daily Mile so I could find out exactly how far we went and how fast we were going. Almost 3 miles! I was so proud of the kids! They are only 5 & 6! They knew we had a destination: the kid's section of the bookstore! So there was no whining and they really did hustle!

It felt great to get this mileage in. Tomorrow will end my week strong, hopefully. Mileage wise, I am right on track with my training - doing more walking in between run days.

1.5

Hal Higdon's 5k Training
Week 0

I am doing an extra week on the beginning end of HH's training plan mostly because I can tell that my body needs it. I need to basically get more mileage on my legs spread out over the week before I can go for longer at a time.  So I am doing a modified version of week one that I am calling week 0. I am doing his workouts plus I am doing a second walk/jog in the evening with some core exercises every other day.

Honestly, 5k feels like a mountain I cannot climb today. I am physically beat down. I am sure that has more to do with the lack of two very important things: sleep & proper nutrition.

SO,  for the next week, I am going to go to bed early - by 10pm. AND I am going to revamp what I am eating a little. Just need to tweak a few things, really. And get rid of the Halloween Candy. :) Oh, and I am going to (gasp!) cut back on the diet dr. pepper and increase the water!

I am going to see how that treats me and how I feel on my runs.

the journey

so I am following THIS training plan. i love hal. hal is my pal. hee, hee.

seriously, though. me and hal go way back. back to when i was 19 and i had been running the standard 6 miles/day for oh, 4 years or so. loved a good trail run back then but had never really raced. then i decided to run a marathon. as a child & teen I was always in excellent shape. super athletic thanks to playing sports my whole life. i took up running when i was a teenager as a way to stay in shape for my winter sports and do better on the soccer field. i also loved to bike, walked a couple miles to school every day for a few years, swam, rock-climbed, and played rec volleyball. so when i was 19 and got talked into (another story for another day) running this marathon, i did so with very little training. like, only the athletic endeavors i had under my belt.

i finished. yes ma'am i did. in 5:47. i was at the back of the pack the entire way, running (and sometimes walking) with a party group. we had a small fire engine with us, and let's just say we looked more like a parade than we did a race. there were beads, shot glasses, and lots & lots of crazies! it was a great time. but not something i tout as a huge running accomplishment. i mean, basically, i partied my way to the finish line. it was a joke.

in the years that followed that first experience, i noticed something about myself.
a) i loved the community aspect of running big races
b) i loved the race atmosphere both before, during, and after races
c) i never wanted to finish at the BACK of the pack again.

so i knew i wanted to do this more often, but in order to avoid being at the back, i would need to train. enter hal. he was my inspiration.

fast forward several years and several races, none of which included anything other than a 5k, later. i was my husband's training partner back when we were dating while he trained for his first marathon. it was inspiring, but i honestly didn't think i could do it. so in a typical self-defeatest way, i quit. i quit running while we were engaged. then we got married and i got pregnant.

i have never really, REALLY gone back to running the way i have always wanted to. i have walk/jogged a few 5ks and 2 half marathons since my kids were born. i have planned on training for and running a half and then hopefully a full marathon. in fact, 2 years ago, before i turned 30 i had grand plans to do just that. then they sort of fizzled and died. the feelings of failure at having given up, combined with feeling pretty bad physically from several miscarriages has kept me away for some time.

last year when i was working, i walked 2.5 miles on my lunch break 4 times a week. i was gearing up to train for the half marathon in april in st. louis. then my husband announced he was going to train for the marathon at the same time. well, that just wouldn't work in our family, so i sacrificed my training so that he could train. (he ended up backing out from the race, but that's another story for another day) then another miscarriage and the big move from missouri to arizona this summer had me taking more time off of working out.

which brings me to the present moment. and this training plan. i feel as though i am starting from scratch, even though i have been "a runner" for more than half my life. i am asking some pretty steep things of the Lord this time around, emotionally & spiritually. i am asking for some healing in my self-defeatest areas, and for the gift of discipline. i am also asking for my anger to be redeemed and healed. see?? it's a tall order, i know. that is where the name of my blog comes in. i am running to the Lord.

so i am training for a 5k with a 13.1 in mind for next year. training for the 5k is going to lay the foundation that i need  in order to train for an complete the half marathon next year. after that...who knows. for now, i am hoping to enjoy the journey, and just put one foot in front of the other.

off day

That's not to say that today was a bad day, just a day off of running. i knew that after yesterday, I would really feel it today and that I needed to give my muscles the time they needed to recover & rebuild.
Everything hurt when I woke up this morning, especially my right arm. The pain in my arm started about 10pm last night. I iced it and took some ibuprofen and then went to bed. It hurt really bad again this morning.
I decided to do some cross-training - which in my world is vigorous house cleaning. So I deep cleaned the garage, moving around storage bins and vacuuming the baseboards and mopping the whole floor. By the time I brought everything back in and put it all away, I was exhausted and my muscles were HOT! I knew it was a great workout! Just what my muscles needed after yesterday's run. So I did some stretching and had a nice long shower. Ahhhhh, I love the sensation of being able to actually FEEL every muscle in my body!!
Tonight, I will set out my workout clothes, put a new mix on my ipod & get my fruit prepped for my smoothie. I will go to bed early so that I can get up and go for the long run that is on tap for me. I will also read some more running blogs for some inspiration!!!

1

Ran & walked only a little today. But when I ran, I ran the fastest pace I have run in, um at least a decade. :)
I am going to feel this tomorrow!!

I am also planning on doing some pilates this afternoon while my sickies take a nap, and then nap myself.

It was a long night last night. And I am exhausted.

As you can see, I added some lovely running ladies on my sidebar there. They are quite the inspiration to me! I  have been blogging friends with a couple of them for years now, and some of them are brand new to me - but they all have a story, and they all run (faster and longer than I do which is awesome inspiration!!)

Go on over and meet them. They are delightful.

2.5

 yuk. horrible day. kids are getting sick. this is not good.

1

I woke up late this morning so I only had a little while to get on the 'mill and run to our Lord! Besides which I have this weird pain in the back of my knee so I didn't want to risk hurting it further.
I have been having trouble falling asleep at night which makes for a very tired Mama in the mornings. I need to examine my nighttime routine and see what I can tweak so that I can continue to be disciplined in the mornings.

2

Tim took the kids today...
His last day off for about 2 weeks. I am so blessed that he took them out for a day-long date!

So what did I do?

I cleaned. I relaxed.

And I ran. OUTSIDE! It was hot. 82 degrees. Ugh.

I only got 2 miles in but it felt good to be running outside since most of the time I am running on my treadmill watching the kids play in the garage around me.

I had deleted my old running blog because I really thought I was "retiring" from blogging. But here I am again. Funny how these things draw us back. I have the need to talk, I suppose and this fills that need. :)

I am still working on what my current running goals are. I have some emotions about stuff to do with running right now, so I am trying to pray and figure out what God is calling me to.

I will post my goals soon. :)