Nothing too exciting this past week. I woke up on Wednesday morning to some pretty crazy thunderstorms, but when I checked the weather, it looked like I would get about a half hour break to get my 4 mile run in. When I went out to run, the sky looked pretty mean to the west, and it did start to rain about a mile into my run. I could hear some distant thunder, but never really saw much lightning, so I finished out my 4 miles in the rain. I don't really mind running in the rain, but I love the looks I get from people as they drive by in their cars. Their look either says, "Wow, you're dedicated!" or "Wow, you're crazy. What's wrong with you?". :)
Saturday was a fairly uneventful 8 mile run. I did have to do it without my trusty waterboy on a bike/husband as he was golfing in a tournament that morning. So, I got to experience running with a water bottle in my hand the whole time, as I do not own one of the water belt thingys (I know that's the technical name...). I do have to say that the water bottle really threw me off (both in rhythm, and my arm got tired), so I am going to have to decide what to do for those times when I don't have a waterboy on a bike with me!
That's about it for now!
Miles this week: 18 miles
Weeks of training finished: 15 weeks
Total miles of training: 181 miles
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Frustration!!!
I am so frustrated right now! I'm mad at myself, although my reason for being mad isn't something I did knowingly.
My run on Saturday morning was supposed to be 7 miles. I use a Nike +, but it's not always completely accurate, so I always map out my route on mapmyrun.com before I go to make sure it's the right distance. I had a route planned out that was actually about 7.4 miles, so I decided I would either stop running at the 7 mile mark and walk the last part, or run the whole thing, depending on how I was feeling.
It was a beautiful morning for a run, and I was feeling good. Then about 1.5 miles in I realized that, well, let's just say I did not give myself enough time between my pre-run hydration and my actual run. I realized I needed to change my route to include a bathroom of some sort. I knew there were bathrooms at the public park, so I decided to skip one loop of road and detour through the park. My thinking was that going through the park was adding on some distance, so by taking away that one loop, everything would even out. Plus I had that .4 extra miles on there anyway. I figured I would still end up reaching 7 miles.
After my brief stop and a city park port-a-potty (EEWWWW!!!), I was feeling good about the rest of my run and knew I would be able to do 7 miles, no problem. I knew that my Nike + was a little bit ahead of where I was distance wise, so I knew that when it told me I had hit the 7 mile mark, I needed to go a bit further. I ran all the way to my end point, and when I got there it told me I had gone 7.3 miles. I figured that was a safe amount over, and that it was probably actually about 7 miles.
I still wanted to double check, so when I got home, I plugged in the route I had actually run on mapmyrun.com. 6.65 miles!!!! GGRRRR!!! I was so mad that I hadn't actually gone my 7 miles! Now, the bright side to this is that I felt great when I finished running, so I know that I could have easily run another 1/2 mile, but I was lacking that satisfaction of reaching a goal and running the distance I set out to run. Very annoying.
This coming week is supposed to be a "drop-back" week. In the training plan that I'm following, the long runs get progressively longer each week by one mile, except every third week goes down a bit. So instead of going 6-7-8-9, my plan goes 6-7-5-9. I already am not a big fan of this, and had decided that for now I was going to go with 6-7-8-9, until I get into the really high mileage and maybe need that drop-back. Saturday's run also confirmed for me that that is what I want to do. So, 8 miles this Saturday! Hopefully that will give me that goal-reaching-satisfaction that I'm itching for!
Miles this week: 16 miles (we'll just round up to make it easier...)
Weeks of training finished: 14 weeks
Total miles of training: 163 miles
My run on Saturday morning was supposed to be 7 miles. I use a Nike +, but it's not always completely accurate, so I always map out my route on mapmyrun.com before I go to make sure it's the right distance. I had a route planned out that was actually about 7.4 miles, so I decided I would either stop running at the 7 mile mark and walk the last part, or run the whole thing, depending on how I was feeling.
It was a beautiful morning for a run, and I was feeling good. Then about 1.5 miles in I realized that, well, let's just say I did not give myself enough time between my pre-run hydration and my actual run. I realized I needed to change my route to include a bathroom of some sort. I knew there were bathrooms at the public park, so I decided to skip one loop of road and detour through the park. My thinking was that going through the park was adding on some distance, so by taking away that one loop, everything would even out. Plus I had that .4 extra miles on there anyway. I figured I would still end up reaching 7 miles.
After my brief stop and a city park port-a-potty (EEWWWW!!!), I was feeling good about the rest of my run and knew I would be able to do 7 miles, no problem. I knew that my Nike + was a little bit ahead of where I was distance wise, so I knew that when it told me I had hit the 7 mile mark, I needed to go a bit further. I ran all the way to my end point, and when I got there it told me I had gone 7.3 miles. I figured that was a safe amount over, and that it was probably actually about 7 miles.
I still wanted to double check, so when I got home, I plugged in the route I had actually run on mapmyrun.com. 6.65 miles!!!! GGRRRR!!! I was so mad that I hadn't actually gone my 7 miles! Now, the bright side to this is that I felt great when I finished running, so I know that I could have easily run another 1/2 mile, but I was lacking that satisfaction of reaching a goal and running the distance I set out to run. Very annoying.
This coming week is supposed to be a "drop-back" week. In the training plan that I'm following, the long runs get progressively longer each week by one mile, except every third week goes down a bit. So instead of going 6-7-8-9, my plan goes 6-7-5-9. I already am not a big fan of this, and had decided that for now I was going to go with 6-7-8-9, until I get into the really high mileage and maybe need that drop-back. Saturday's run also confirmed for me that that is what I want to do. So, 8 miles this Saturday! Hopefully that will give me that goal-reaching-satisfaction that I'm itching for!
Miles this week: 16 miles (we'll just round up to make it easier...)
Weeks of training finished: 14 weeks
Total miles of training: 163 miles
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Oh, Mother Nature
I never thought I would have such a strong love/hate relationship with the weather. Sure, we all have a certain type of weather that we dislike and a certain type that we enjoy, but mine has become even stronger since I began training. The type of weather I love and the type of weather I hate have almost become opposite too, when it comes to running as opposed to any other time.
Normally, my favorite type of weather would be a sunny, breezy day, not a cloud in the sky, and in the upper 70's or lower 80's. Not when it comes to running though. My ideal running weather would be low 50's, little to no wind, and overcast. The warmer it is, the harder it is for me to run.
This weather talk brings me to my long run this past week. First of all, I have to point out that this was the first official week of the Novice Marathon Training Schedule by Hal Higdon. The Novice Supreme Schedule that I've been following is actually a combination of the marathon training and a spring training schedule. So I have now entered the marathon training portion. Woohoo!! Ok, back on track. (This is what I get for waiting too long to post. My brain is all over the place...). This week and last week were identical in schedules. Both long runs were 6 miles, and I completed the 6 mile long run last week with no problem, so I figured this week would be the same.
Wrong. Last Saturday, I got up early before it got warm out. I had a nice, crisp morning to run. This past weekend looked like it would be the same. Friday night I did my usual night-before-a-run-stalking of the hour-by-hour forecast on weather.com to see when it would get too warm to run. It looked like it was going to be below 70 until about 7am, and then would get warmer from there. Perfect. I could do my 6am run with a nice cloud cover, and cool air. Until I actually went outside Saturday morning. And it was almost 70 already. And the humidity was about 1000%. (Dad, if you're reading this, yes, I realize that's not actually possible) It felt like I was in a jungle. Not ideal.
Well, I toughed it out anyway, but it was a rough run. I may as well have been wearing a plastic jumpsuit because there was absolutely no evaporation going on. I was actually thankful that I had already completed 6 miles the week before so I knew that my terrible experience wasn't because 6 miles was too much to handle, it was due to Mother Nature. And the kicker of the whole thing? That temperature that was supposed to climb after 7am... actually ended up dropping. About an hour after my run, it was about 5 degrees cooler and not nearly as humid. Curse you, weatherman!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 13 weeks
Total miles of training: 147 miles
Normally, my favorite type of weather would be a sunny, breezy day, not a cloud in the sky, and in the upper 70's or lower 80's. Not when it comes to running though. My ideal running weather would be low 50's, little to no wind, and overcast. The warmer it is, the harder it is for me to run.
This weather talk brings me to my long run this past week. First of all, I have to point out that this was the first official week of the Novice Marathon Training Schedule by Hal Higdon. The Novice Supreme Schedule that I've been following is actually a combination of the marathon training and a spring training schedule. So I have now entered the marathon training portion. Woohoo!! Ok, back on track. (This is what I get for waiting too long to post. My brain is all over the place...). This week and last week were identical in schedules. Both long runs were 6 miles, and I completed the 6 mile long run last week with no problem, so I figured this week would be the same.
Wrong. Last Saturday, I got up early before it got warm out. I had a nice, crisp morning to run. This past weekend looked like it would be the same. Friday night I did my usual night-before-a-run-stalking of the hour-by-hour forecast on weather.com to see when it would get too warm to run. It looked like it was going to be below 70 until about 7am, and then would get warmer from there. Perfect. I could do my 6am run with a nice cloud cover, and cool air. Until I actually went outside Saturday morning. And it was almost 70 already. And the humidity was about 1000%. (Dad, if you're reading this, yes, I realize that's not actually possible) It felt like I was in a jungle. Not ideal.
Well, I toughed it out anyway, but it was a rough run. I may as well have been wearing a plastic jumpsuit because there was absolutely no evaporation going on. I was actually thankful that I had already completed 6 miles the week before so I knew that my terrible experience wasn't because 6 miles was too much to handle, it was due to Mother Nature. And the kicker of the whole thing? That temperature that was supposed to climb after 7am... actually ended up dropping. About an hour after my run, it was about 5 degrees cooler and not nearly as humid. Curse you, weatherman!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 13 weeks
Total miles of training: 147 miles
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Next Big Decision
Deciding to train for the marathon was a big decision for me. I had come a long way in my running, but registering for the marathon meant that I was committing to keeping up with a training schedule for over six months, and committing to run a distance much longer than I had ever run in my life. Once I told people that I was training for a marathon, I knew I couldn't back out.
My next big decision was whether or not to fund raise. When you register for the marathon, they ask you if you will be running for a charity or not. At the time when I registered, I said no, but it definitely put the idea in my head. I knew that if I was going to try and raise money for any charity, it would be something related to fighting breast cancer because both my mom and my aunt are survivors, and it feels like almost every woman I'm related to has had it. Not quite, but it's safe to say it runs in my family.
This was a tough decision for me though because most charities make you commit to raising a minimum amount. I couldn't just sign up and raise as much or as little as I could. This was scary for me because I hate asking people for money. I am definitely no Holly Robinson Peete.(Celebrity Apprentice? Anyone? Anyone?) I began to look around at marathon related charities though, and found that Susan G. Komen, a pretty big name in breast cancer research fund raising, had a program called Marathon for the Cure, and that the Chicago Marathon was one of the races they were associated with.
I finally decided that I would join Marathon for the Cure and commit to raising at least $750. I figured I'm at least doing something to give people reason to donate. I'm not asking for donations just 'cause, I'm running 26.2 miles for the donations! (Not to mention the many, many miles of training). So, I will try not to be too much of a pest about it, but I would love it if you would consider donating. Even the tiniest amount is helpful! There is absolutely no problem with using that "other amount" field and donating ten or even five dollars. I've even put a link to my donation page here on the blog to make it nice and easy! :) And a big "thank you" to those who have donated already!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 12 weeks
Total miles of training: 132 miles
My next big decision was whether or not to fund raise. When you register for the marathon, they ask you if you will be running for a charity or not. At the time when I registered, I said no, but it definitely put the idea in my head. I knew that if I was going to try and raise money for any charity, it would be something related to fighting breast cancer because both my mom and my aunt are survivors, and it feels like almost every woman I'm related to has had it. Not quite, but it's safe to say it runs in my family.
This was a tough decision for me though because most charities make you commit to raising a minimum amount. I couldn't just sign up and raise as much or as little as I could. This was scary for me because I hate asking people for money. I am definitely no Holly Robinson Peete.(Celebrity Apprentice? Anyone? Anyone?) I began to look around at marathon related charities though, and found that Susan G. Komen, a pretty big name in breast cancer research fund raising, had a program called Marathon for the Cure, and that the Chicago Marathon was one of the races they were associated with.
I finally decided that I would join Marathon for the Cure and commit to raising at least $750. I figured I'm at least doing something to give people reason to donate. I'm not asking for donations just 'cause, I'm running 26.2 miles for the donations! (Not to mention the many, many miles of training). So, I will try not to be too much of a pest about it, but I would love it if you would consider donating. Even the tiniest amount is helpful! There is absolutely no problem with using that "other amount" field and donating ten or even five dollars. I've even put a link to my donation page here on the blog to make it nice and easy! :) And a big "thank you" to those who have donated already!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 12 weeks
Total miles of training: 132 miles
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