week 5, day 3

Can't believe I'm almost finished week 5 of training!  I had another great run today.  I was def more tired today than the last two days, but it's been a long week.  I had been spoiled with all of the those snow days and delays the last 3 weeks.  Then this week was jam packed.  I had grad class Tuesday night, conferences Wednesday night and another grad class tonight.  I am so ready for Friday happy hour tomorrow!  Today's training consisted of 3 miles in 26:33, an 8:51 pace.  Now it's time to mentally prepare for Saturday's 12 mile run.  At least the weather will be nice! 

82/460 miles complete

week 5, day 2

Well good runs seem to be a trend.  I ran 6 miles today.  I set the treadmill to 6.6mph (9:05 pace) and was determined to keep a slow pace.  I felt so good it was hard not to increase my speed, but I did it.  Well for the most part.  I don't get it, why can't I just run at one pace and enjoy it.  I always have the urge to increase my speed on the treadmill.  When I run outside this doesn't happen.  It really baffles me.  For the first 5 miles I randomly increased my incline for 2-5 minute intervals instead of increasing my speed.  I figured this could make me a stronger runner.  I was dying to increase my speed.  I couldn't take it anymore, so I increased my speed to 7mph then to 8 then to 9.  I must have been tired because it was a little harder than I expected, but a challenge is what I wanted, right?  All in all it was a good run.  It took me 53:53 - an 8:51 mile pace.

79/460 miles complete

week 5, day 1

Today's run was awesome.  It started out easy and remained easy.  Of course I kept speeding up each mile and surprisingly enough each one felt good.  My breathing and my strides felt awesome!  I ran the first mile in 9:05, the second mile in 8:34 and the third mile in 7:21.  That's a total of 25 minutes for 3 miles, which is averages an 8:20 per mile pace.  Hopefully this is a trend of feeling good on my runs and not a phase!

73/460 miles complete

week 4, day 4

So I made a decision.  I decided I should compromise.  I ran right after school so that I could have a later happy hour! :)  The run was awesome.  I was so nervous for it, but I ate plenty of carbs throughout the day to supply me the energy I needed.  I ran 3 miles really focusing on running at a slower pace.  I was averaging a 9:51 pace.  Then one of my awesome friends, Leaha met me and ran the next 5 miles with me.  This was so helpful!  It def made the run a lot easier.  When I parted with her I had 3 miles left.  These were the hardest part of the run because I was freezing - the sun had gone down and wow, what a difference that made!  Needless to say I def sped up this part of my run, but at least it was the end.  My lips were purple for a good hour afterward - not good!  I even took a hot shower, bundled up and sat in front of my space heater - lol.  I ended up running 11 miles averaging a 9:47 pace.  I think that's a good start for a slower training pace.  I still can't believe I was able to run 11 miles on a Friday after work!  It also dawned on me that I have never run 11 miles unless it was during a half marathon.  Anytime I trained for a half marathon the most mileage I put in was 10 miles.  This run was more of a milestone than I realized - toot toot beep beep (yes, I'm tooting my own horn!).  I rewarded myself with a bbq chicken dominoes pizza, a bottle of sparkling white wine, and Jersey Shore on dvr with Leaha of course!  Good times.

70/460 miles complete!

week 4, day 3

So I realized that I was supposed to run 6 miles on day 2 (Wednesday).  Luckily I felt awesome running yesterday so I added a fourth mile and I ran it at a 6:30 pace!  For the first time in a long time I felt good within the first few minutes of running.  I was so happy it didn't take me a mile or two to get warmed up.  I ran 4 miles in 33:27!  I better run my long run this weekend at the slow pace I intended to train.  Speaking of this weekend, I normally run on Saturday afternoons.  Well of course they are calling for icy rain in the am and rain the entire day!  No, I'm not freaking out at all (sarcasm).  There is no way I can run 11 miles on a treadmill.  Talk about a hamster wheel - not gonna work for me.  This Sunday is out though, unless I skip church - which I really don't want to do.  We are having a Superbowl party starting at 3.  Church is over at 12 and it will take me 2 hours to run.  Def too stressful.  I am a little worried.  Maybe I should just run it today after school, but then I have to skip happy hour! :(  Oh priorities - I've never been good with them. LOL!  I have today to make a decision I suppose...

59/460 mile complete

week 4, day 2

Today was another successful run!  Since I felt good I had trouble sticking to my plan to run my long runs at a slower pace.  I stuck to my plan for the first 4 miles, but soon realized that since my run was going so well I could speed up and complete 5 miles averaging less than a 9:00 pace.  Low and behold I did.  I ran 5 miles in 44:22.  This is yet another reason why I'm hating the treadmill these days.  I can't stop looking at my speed and distance.  Therefore, I grow competitive with myself.  For some reason when I run outside I am able to just enjoy running and I don't worry about my time or pace.  I run with my ipod using Nike+ so I definitely have the opportunity to obsess with my time and pace, yet I don't.  It must be that when I'm on the treadmill those numbers are just staring right at me.  My dad suggested I just cover it up, but we all know I would lift it up and keep looking at it anyway.  Oh well, I guess I'm just going to have to learn to be disciplined.

55/460 miles complete

week 4, day 1

Week 4 is starting off quite well.  My run went great!  I felt like a runner again (that's two runs in a row - woohoo).  It didn't start off as easy as my runs used to, but it only took a mile to get warmed up.  Then I felt like I could run forever.  Rather than extend the mileage (for fear of over training), I increased my mph.  I started out at a 9:15 mile pace and ended up averaging an 8:34 mile for the entire run.  I ran 3 miles in 25:43.  I'm definitely happy with that!  However, I've been reading about running marathons and have learned that a first time marathon runner's most common error is starting out too fast.  My goal is to start out with a 10:00 or 10:30 mile pace.  I was worried that speeding up when my run feels easy during training might be a bad habit.  Then I decided that it would be okay to run my 3 mile days at a faster speed (if I'm feeling up to it) and just take my time on my longer mileage days.  Who knows if this makes any sense or not...it's worth a try.  Here's to a great week of training ahead!  Having an "ice" day today (no work and no grad class) should definitely help.

50/460 miles complete