Upper-Body Strength

My goal: To be able to do REAL push-ups. This was a low mileage training week for me...just a few 6, 5, and even a 3 miler (been a while). Upcoming long run is 18 miles, so I am going to get pumped all week for it!! It has concerned me for sometime now that I cannot do a REAL push-up. I can haul and carry with the best of them, but when it comes to going all the way down to the ground from my long outstretched arms, it's a face plant. I can do planks all sides but not a real push-up. I do the pilates push-up and of course the girly push-up with knees on the floor. I will get there. John is going to help me and be my upper body trainer. This will be fun.

Lightnin'

Nothing can stop me...

I am dedicated, but I am not stupid. This morning, I woke up around 4 am to lightning. We have had a deluge of storms lately and lots of flooding. So when I heard the lightning, I knew it was not a passing fancy. I was kind of irked about not running, but I decided to make the best of it and just have a great day. I looked at my training schedule when I got home, and it said a 3 miler, so I did a strength training workout instead. It was good for me. Tomorrow is a 7 mile speed workout, so I arranged to go to school early and use their treadmill for this run. That way, if the storms keep coming, I can run on.

Long Run Report: My 16 miler was good. I took a personal day from school, also my birthday, and ran and ate a big lunch with my husband. It was a good day. It had been raining all week, so the greenway where I ran was muddy and flooded. I love the adventure, so it was fun to jump around a little. I felt good the whole way, my pace was good and slow. My legs got a little crampy toward the end, but then I realized that I had only taken one gel. I am getting a little cavalier with my long runs. The run was about 3 hours, and I should have fueled at least twice, but I did not. It left me with a bottomless pit feeling (not hunger, but nutrition), like I had missed something. It has been a while since I ran that long, so I needed that reminder.

I have fueled a lot this weekend with CAKE. It is gone now, so that is good. For some reason, Rhodes Bakery cakes just do not seem to bother my sugar levels. I think it is mental. Yes, I just want to eat cake. Happy it's gone....until next birthday.

Four What?

What! I knew it was coming. My minimum weekday run has been 5 miles for the past few weeks..tempo, speed, easy. The training plan has 6, 7, and 8 mile runs during the week in the upcoming weeks. Looking ahead, the timing works great cause my longer weekday runs may fall when I have day off from school. The 6 milers will be at least once a week from here on out, so you know what that means....4. Four am, 4 am. Once you have kids, no time of the day is sacred, right? Well, Savannah is almost 4 years old and middle-of-the-night callings are infrequent, so 4 something is early for me. I knew it would come (predicted in the summer). Ok, it was only 10 minutes earlier than my normal 5 am wake up, but my alarm clock started with a 4. When I set it last night, I laughed. It really wasn't bad. I actually woke up at 3 something excited about my 4:50 alarm. I just needed an extra 10 minutes to run an extra mile.

Long Run Report: This is the exciting time! Last weeks long run was 13 miles (supposed to be 14, but I picked up the pace to make it home on time, so that counts). It was great. I took one gel (orange hammer...goopy, not too sugary and no acid indigestion) and a l'arabar sample with me. I only took the gel and felt great. The 13 felt like maybe 7, so I am excited that my body has reached a new minimum of "feeling it." I felt great, almost forgot to do my normal routine cause I did not feel fatigued. Fatigue is good because it pushes you to take care of yourself. Memory kicked in though and I prepared a Hammer recovery drink. After I showered, I realized I did not have a suitable breakfast item, so I made french fries (Trader Joes ones are delicious) and put cheese and bacon bits on them with sour cream. PERFECT recovery food. I usually have a stash of roasted potatoes that I can top and eat at any time. This has fueled me for the weeks when the long runs are over 10. The next long run is 16 miles. I am looking forward to it.

A PR!

US 10k Classic 2009

I made a Personal Record today at the US 10k Classic! I could not believe it. This is NOT a PR course, but I did it. My time was 59:29. 16 seconds faster than my fastest 10k and 10:15 faster than last years US 10k Classic. Was it all the hype about how I thought I would PR, the positive thinking, the talking about it, the excitement?..I felt God the whole way. He cares about the small things like a 10k race.

As you read in the previous Blog entry, this course is full of hills. When you talk to experienced runners around here about this race, they are all wide-eyed and mention the hills first thing. Ones who are not runners but are told the stretch of highway where the race takes place are also wide-eyed and say "whooo." I think that just makes me more determined.

At mile 4, I kind of went anaerobic for a few minutes after the long ascent. But it was good after that because it broke me through to a new level for the rest of the race. I noticed the mile-maker clock at 4 miles said 38 minutes (I started my watch after the official start because it took me a minute before I crossed the start line...so it was actually 37 min for me). I shook my head in disbelief because I knew that if I had made it this far with a good time, I could PR. My pace slowed a little for the last 2 miles, but I felt great. It was funny because I did not check my chronogropher the whole race; just happened to see the mile marker at 4. I concentrated on my pace going down the hills and my breathing/foot rhythm going up the hills. Not running with the ipod helped me keep a good rhythm and helped to take the focus off the hills.

The race opened with Special Ops Paratroopers coming down to the national anthem and finished with a huge spread of goodies by Publix after the race. The post-race concert featured Beatles cover group called The Return. We (Kim and I) stayed to see the awards for the Pole Walkers, Runner, Cyclists, Wheelchair, and In-line Skaters. The first 1,000 finishers got a medal. Maybe that will be me next year!

A GREAT PERK: We got into WhiteWater FREE and our family was half-price. Savannah had a blast at WhiteWater and rode the big tube rides over and over. It was such a blast.

Cyclists

Cyclists 100k finish

Pole Walker

The Party

After Race Celebration with Kim

US 10K Classic

CHECK IT OUT: THE ELEVATION CHART FOR THE US 10k Challenge and then VOTE.
You could win a garlic roll.

Factors to be considered before voting:

• It has been a year, and I have done a lot of running: 4 Halfs, 2 Marathons, Numerous 5k and 10ks
• I am 25lbs lighter
• My normal runs are on hills
• My legs are fresh, not overtrained like last year
• I run 4 to 5 days a week now
• You decide.

Marathon Plan

I've Got a Plan

Ok, so my maintenance miles have ended this week. I have kept my goal of 20-25 miles per week since my Marathon on June 20th. I have surpassed this goal on several occasions and feel very strong to train for the next Marathon in November.

Runner's World has a great training plan guide called the Smart Coach. You type in your weekly mileage, the level (easy, moderate, hard) of training you would like to do, your distance that you are training for, your most recent race time, and how many weeks you would like to train. From that, it calculates a Marathon plan. I put in Moderate because it keeps my during-the-week-runs between 5 and 8 miles, which I can handle before going to work without having to think of the 4 am hour. Ok, when it get to 7 and 8 miles, I'll have to figure that out....oh, dark thirty.

The plan is reasonable and seems easy. What I do not understand in these Marathon training schedules is how I am supposed to run so slow on Easy and Long runs. Am I missing something? I definitely pace differently for each type of run, but I do not know how to run at an 11:34 pace unless I have already worn myself out for 20 miles. I want improve my time by 15 minutes for the next marathon. This is completely possible and will keep me a healthy runner. I want to run for a long time.

It's going to be a good race. Thanks Runner's World!