Week to Week

The Stats: 2/16 - 2/22
2/17: 3.11 mi; 23'57"; 7'41" avg. pace
2/19: 4.00 mi; 37'03"; 9'16" avg. pace
2/22: 6.22 mi; 50'02"; 8'03" avg. pace

I have finally put together a single week worthy of a blog post. A momentary break in the winter weather allowed for some good running days last week. Surprisingly, my pace has not suffered drastically from the lack of January activity. I started with the 'ole faithful 5k route on Monday. It went great, but I forgot to stretch out adequately after the run. Ashley joined me on Wednesday and helped me trot out the soreness from Monday's three-miler. I polished that off with a 10k on Saturday under beautiful skies. The half marathon training program suggested an 8 miler this weekend for the long run. Ashley knocked that out, but I am still building back up to the long distance weekend run. All signs are encouraging at this point. Minimal pain and soreness from past injuries is a green light to further half marathon training.
March madness is almost upon us. Madness? THIS IS RUNNING!!!!!!

Feb. 22 splits

Life's not a sprint, it's a (half) marathon.

I wanted to start off my debut as a member of Team Participation Trophy with a bang, so I bribed Matt to sign up for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Half Marathon with me. I started running a little over 18 months ago, and have completed several 5K races and one 10K.

As this will be my first half marathon, I’m trying to be pretty strict with my training (Matt has this in the bag since this will be his third). My coworker who ran her first half in Savannah this year and who is also running Pittsburgh with us created a 16-week training plan for us to follow.

The first 6 weeks have been tough, with the weather and water crisis. A few weeks ago I gave in to Mother Nature and joined a gym so I can stay on track with my training plan. Our plan includes running three times a week: weekday runs are 3-5 miles, and weekend runs are long runs that increase half a mile per week. This week I passed the halfway mark with a 7 miler on the dreadmill!

On my cross-training days I had been doing free weights or the elliptical, but last week I found a new class that is guaranteed to whip me into shape: a twice-weekly, 45 minute strength and conditioning class at my gym. The class consists of sprints, jump squats, crunches, push-ups, high-knees, planks…pretty much your average boot camp activities.

My mileage for 2014 so far is 55 miles. Not too shabby! Looking forward to crossing this item off my bucket list.

Janu-where?-y

The Stats: 1/1 - 1/31
1/14: 3.01 mi; 23'58"; 7'57" avg. pace

Yes, that was my only run in January. The snows, the single digit temperatures, a chemical spill, etc. conspired to make this an awful month for running. But 2014 is no year for excuses. I have finally setup the indoor bike trainer that Mike got me for Christmas two years ago and have hit that hard in the last couple weeks. Skiing has helped fill in the workout gap on two weekends as well. Mike and I got lost in Kumbrabow State Forest and escaped alive, though I'd prefer to burn my calories less out of fear for survival and more for stress relief and enjoyment. And I have tried to do little workouts around the house while I dream of better running days. I even find myself walking the stairs at work, for a break, to increase my heart rate every now and then.
The bottom line is: winter is depressing. Earth needs to move its fat a*# around the sun a bit quicker and make it spring in the Northern Hemisphere again.