Sunday, September 30, 2012

1 week to go

The half is one week from today! I am so ridiculously excited about the whole weekend. I will be off from both jobs on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My bff Liz is coming to my house sometime on Friday, and we're going to do some shopping and watch Bridesmaids. We will leave for Lawton on Saturday, and meet my other bff Katie at the hotel. Since she's going to get there too late for the carb-loading dinner, we're going to go to Olive Garden on our own. Then, theoretically, we'll go to bed and get up super early. We'll race on Sunday morning, and I hope to finish in 3:15 or less (ok, there's a voice whispering that less than 3 hours is possible, but I don't want to get too optimistic). Gnome (Katie) was going to run the half with me, but is waiting to hear if she can switch to the 5K instead. This weekend is going to be the best of the year, I think.

I love how the past 3 real long runs have each been the longest run of my life. 7 miles was the longest, then 9.58, and now 11.41 miles. I ran at Earlywine park again, and it was drizzly and a bit cold this time. I had to run with a jacket on. I finished in 2:20:52, and Runner's World's training calculator is taunting me by telling me that my half time should be 2:43, which would be freaking awesome. However, after 11 miles, I was very sore for the last .41 miles, so I don't know what kind of pace I'll have for the last few miles of the half. I'm going to officially stick with my goal time of less than 3:15, with a secret goal of less than 3 hours.

Also, I have decided that I love listening to audiobooks while running. I used to always say how much I hate audiobooks because I am so easily distracted that I lose whole paragraphs because I saw a cute bird. However, I have read the Harry Potter books twice, and therefore I can listen to the audiobooks without really missing any details, even if I am distracted or my mapmyrun app drowns out the audio at every mile with my stats. I'm going to listen to HP6, The Order Of The Phoenix, during the half.

Running Stats:

9/24/12: Monday
Stats: 5 miles in 1:14:38. Watched Bones.

9/25/12: Tuesday
Stats: 5 miles in 1:07:35. Started a Cosby Show marathon on Hulu.

9/29/12: Saturday
Stats: 11.41 miles in 2:20:52. Last long run before half. Earlywine park, HP3 audiobook.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

15 days to go

There are 15 days left until the Spirit of Survival Half Marathon in Lawton. I had a minor setback with my hamstring 2 weeks ago, but I rested it and now it's much better. I am still hyper-aware of it when I run, but I think it's ok.

I just finished my scheduled long run for this week. I was supposed to run 9 miles, but I had to run in a new location on a paved circular track, so I ran 9.58 miles in 1:59:40. The runner's world training calculator puts my half time at 2:46:44. My goal time was less than 3.5 hours because of my hamstring, but I'm beginning to think that 3:15 might be possible. My hamstring was a bit painful around miles 2-4, but the pain went away when I actually ran, so I continued. I like that I am getting better at distinguishing between discomfort pain and injury pain. This is the second week of training where I actually did the mileage I was supposed to do.

I've managed to convince my BFF Liz to run the Cowtown Marathon with me on Feb 24, and I've run with her out in the country a few times recently. We run on a dirt road in a pasture, and we have quite the confused/fascinated audience. At least they'll fit in with the name of our planned marathon.


Running stats:

8/21/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 2.02 in 32:22. Sore tight hamstrings. Watched Grimm.

8/22/12: (Wednesday)
Stats: 3 miles in 41:56. 3 mins running at 5, 2 mins walking at 3.5. Hamstring felt much better. Probably could have done 4 miles. Did tabata biceps with a resistance band afterwards. Watched Grimm.

8/25/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 5.23 miles in 1:14:15. Watched Grimm.

8/27/12: (Monday)
Stats: .5 miles in 5 mins in group training. 1 min walking at 3.5, then [30 secs 5.5, 30 secs 8.0]x3, then 30 secs at 3.5, 30 secs at 2.0. Interval runs suck. Later, I ran 4 miles in 54:14 on the treadmill, for a total of 4.5miles.

8/28/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 4.5 miles in 1:02:43.

9.1.12: (Saturday)
Stats: 7 miles in 1:28:06. 1st actual long run of training. Generally ran for .9 miles at 5.5 and walked .1 miles at 3.5. Felt hamstring while running after about 5 miles-slowed down to 5.0 after that. Downton Abbey. Runner's high is awesome.

9/4/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 1 mile in 14:41. Angry hamstring.

9/8/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 3.07 miles in 50:14. Ran at Liz's house with the cows. Ave pace 16:20. Lots of walking. Hamstring hurt, but was ok after a bit.

9/11/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 5 miles in 1:32:37. Hamstring sore but ok. Downton Abbey.

9/15/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 6.15 miles in 1:41:08 at Hefner with Liz.

9/17/12: (Monday)
Stats: 5 miles in 1:08:51. Grimm, Revolution.

9/18/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 5 miles in 1:10:56 at Liz's pasture.

9/22/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 9.58 miles in 1:59:40 at Earlywine Park (Hefner closed due to the Redman Tri). Listened to HP and the Order of the Phoenix on audiobook. Hamstring was noticeable from miles 2-4, but was ok.


Here is a pic of my training plan so far. Yellow=did scheduled workout; Blue=deviated. Fill in the last 3 days with yellow with your imagination.