6/10 - Forced myself to do that 5 miles (5.33) and did much better than I thought. 49 minutes (9:11 pace) when I thought it was going to take me over 50 the way I was feeling.
6/9 - Was supposed to do 5, but I'm going to do it tomorrow
6/8 - Rested instead of CT :-/
6/7 - 3.09 miles at a 8:05 pace! That's pretty fast for this girl! Also proud since i REALLY was unmotivated, succeeded in talking myself out or working out, but then found I had extra time. Instead of being bored and unproductive, I convinced myself to JUST DO IT!
6/6 - Getting back onto my calendar schedule from here on out: rest day.
6/5 - Much needed rest day!
6/4 - TWELVE! That's 12.04 miles in under two hours?! (1 hours 53 minutes to be precise!) I'm so unbelievably proud of myself and can't believe I had such a good time (for me anyways!). My knees must be stronger, because they didn't start hurting until into the 11th mile, and only one of them was annoying enough to think about. It was hard to get lost in the run today, so I often had to picture my light at the end of the tunnel... my big red glass of water. I seriously am considering having someone at the end of the half marathon ready with my big red glass, because it was a surprisingly great motivator during today's run. At least 4 times I mentally pictured that glass and how amazing the water would taste when I arrived home. Running mostly through Golden Gate Park, I saw lakes and fields that thus far I'd only read about. I also jogged past the Bison and Murphy's Windmill (poor quality pictures as I was running and didn't want to stop too long to mess up my time!) I think I'm ready for the big race 2 Sundays from now!
6/3 - Lunch and drinks and sunshine, so again, lack of training!
6/2 - Got my hair done today, not going to mess that up with a 12 mile run! I will have time for this long run on Tuesday :)
6/1 - CT? Too sunny, needed to hit up Dolores Park. Oops!
5/31 - 3.11 miles at a 9 minute mile pace along with some good stretching! Need to prepare for Sunday's long run.
5/30 - Rest day - so sore!
5/29 - Forty-five minutes of lifting for cross training to make up for yesterday, followed by an attempt at 4 miles. Never-Again! My legs were so exhausted from lifting, that with each stride I felt I was jumping a hurdle and pounding back onto the pavement. I made it 3.58 challenging miles. Next time, let's reverse those two when combining lifting and cardio :)
5/28 - Rest day instead of cross training... will do tomorrow, I promise!
5/27 - Time to build up some knee strength. Squats, leg lifts, anything that might help them not ache so much in the last miles, I'm going for it. (but not today... Memorial Day Weekend mini-get-away)
5/26 - Much needed rest and BBQ day!
5/25 - Eleven miles!!! Actually 11.07, but who's counting? AND I completed this "city tour" in 1 hour and 50 minutes! Definitely a proud moment and personal best! Knees killed in the last mile or so (and the next day), but absolutely worth the pain :)
5/24 - Choice - run 4 miles today, rest tomorrow, or run 11 miles tomorrow. I chose the latter.
5/23 - Rest day
5/22 - Time to cross train. I went for a 30 minutes bike ride at a moderate intensity level.
5/21 - With the opportunity of running with R, I switched CT for another attempt at 10 miles. Well, today was not the day. We did a little over 4 miles, at a super slow and steady pace. At least we got to catch up! And then I danced to Blurred Lines on repeat in my room for at least 45 minutes... that counts, too... right?
5/20 - After another long stretch of not training, I removed running 10 miles today as an option. I need to care a bit more for my body than to force it to do that when it clearly isn't ready. So, I revised my training schedule for this week, to hopefully be back on track by this weekend. Instead, I ran through the Presidio to a beautiful lookout point right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. I listened to my body's needs and allowed myself to power walk up hills when I was nearly half way back home. Yes, this gave me an extremely slow mile average, but expecting my body to push when I've been so lazy is unrealistic. Now that I've regained some motivation and revised my plan for success, let's do this thing!
5/19 - Bay to Breakers, and although I had the best intentions of doing some Cross Training in between shifts, I had to go see what all the fuss was about! I am getting frustrated with myself that I've been so bad about training lately. I'm the only one who can fix it... needs to start NOW!
5/18 - Mentally exhausted after getting home from work, I slept from 5pm-5:30am. Woah.
5/15 - 5/17 - Been working a lot, been resting a lot, been skipping more work outs. Lazy train stops tomorrow. Bay to Breakers weekend!
5/14 - I DID 9 MILES! New milestone for me. Also, the more milage I do, the more it becomes a tour of the city! Today I ran by Golden Gate Park, Fisherman's Wharf, City Hall, the Ferry Building, and got a nice view of Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge from the end of the Wharf. Overall, I felt pretty okay, considering I have not been the most consistent with my training. The last half mile, my knees started to hurt. Not sure if that is from inconsistent training or if I'm just reaching my body's limit.
To push my limit further, I joined a friend at Bikram yoga (I'll blog about it later), which wasn't my best "performance," per say as my energy and legs' recovery process failed to keep up with me.
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| Good Morning, San Francisco Sea Lions!! |
5/12 - Mother's Day! Immediately after work, I headed to a family friends' grandma's house to spend the holiday with her. The day included lots of gardening, eating, and playing Rummikub, but no 9 miles.
5/11 - Nada. Supposed to Cross Train, I forget why I didn't, which means I had no excuse.
5/10 - Brutal. Slow. Brutally slow. I attempted to find any possible excuse to not run after work today: it's overcast, it's windy, I'm tired, blah, blah, blah. I finally manned up, mapped out my path (I always use mapmyrun.com if that's helpful to anyone!), and set out the door. I started cramping within the first half mile, and it didn't go away. Running didn't feel normal until the last 3/4 or so of my route. Never again can I allow myself to go so long without training again before this race - or I will be SOL.
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| pulled from weheartit.com |
5/5-5/9 - So I went to Boston with the best of intentions to keep on my training, but unfortunately I made excuses and did not do any exercising. We walked around a lot, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking that counts. In returning to San Francisco today, I can already tell I've fallen off the wagon in walking our beloved hills. Tomorrow the schedule calls for 4 miles, and I'm going to pick up from there. This does mean skipping this past week's long run (8 miles), so attempting to do 9 miles on Sunday or Monday will likely be a bitch. (excuse my language). I also realize in reviewing my training that this has been 8 days straight without working out... holy crap. Let's jump back on that wagon - attempting to not get too down on myself and just pick it back up! Time to focus in this last 1 month+ of training.
5/4 - Scheduled rest day... slash time to pack for my upcoming trip day!
5/3 - Worked some OT, and although that forced me to cancel my Friday night plans, did not put me in the mood to run 4 miles.
5/2 - Scheduled Cross Training... didn't happen
5/1 - Obviously I can't completely skip my long run of the week, so I'm place of today's scheduled 4 miles, I did 7.17 miles! Not only that but I did it in an hour flat. Feeling pretty proud of myself because I've never gone that distance in one work out, and I usually have a much slower pace. From here on out, each long run will be the furthest I've run at once. As long as I stick to my schedule, I'm in good shape!
4/30 - Rest.
4/29 - Cross train day, which I don't feel too bad about skipping since I cross trained on Saturday.
4/28 - 7 miles on the schedule. Didn't do it.
4/27 - Rest day - only I didn't rest! Go me. Instead I went to Urban Flow Yoga. Ommm :)
4/26 - Finally, after three days, I jumped back into training. No make ups, just back onto the schedule: 3 miles. I completed my run on the treadmill at my gym for the first time since beginning training. The up side to that: I can see how fast I'm moving and force my speed up. Downside: I get bored. First run in the new shoes - check!
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| Stretch! |
4/24 - Supposed to do 3 miles to break in my new shoes; however, after only sleeping 2 hours last night from going to the Sharks game, then discovering I needed to be at work at 5:30am, I decided to sleep after work, wake to eat and do some chores, then return to sleep
4/23 - Rest day. No make ups, although I should have.
4/22 - After a business meeting earlier today and an appointment this afternoon that requires me to rest for the remainder of the day, I will not be doing any cross training nor a 20 minutes easy run today. Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, so if I'm feeling up to it, I'll do some needed upper body lifting instead.
4/21 - Hottest day since I have lived in this city! Absolutely gorgeous. After work and an hour of sun soaking with F, I set out for a 6 mile run. I didn't map it out beforehand, so although I felt amazing following it, it turned out to only be 5.5. The brisk pace in between stop lights in the blazing sun allowed me to sweat out whatever sickness I felt the other day.
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| Sweaty |
4/19 - I did not feel very well, so I went to bed at 5pm and woke up at 5am.... I guess you could say I needed sleep! I don't feel too bad for missing today's 4 mile run, because staying caught up on sleep is just as important. Not going to worry about making this one up.
"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book."
Irish Proverb
4/18 - To make up for slacking yesterday, I tried to fit in both cross training and some cardio before meeting a friend for happy hour. I took Jagger for a steady 2 mile jog before doing 20 minutes of jumping jacks, lunges, butt kicks, squats, etc. Not super intense, but not bad for squeezing a lot into a short amount of time. (Although, as soon as I jumped out of the shower, my plans were cancelled. Go figure.)In other news, I got my bike tire fixed! Yay for more adventures and varied cross training :)
4/17 - Gorgeous day makes me want to lay in the sun and not move. Forced myself into my 3 mile run. Okay, I lied. Instead, went for an almost 3 mile walk with Jagger. Oops.
4/16 - Hit the gym today to make up for two missed days: 20 - 30 minutes easy run and cross training. I tried to give my ankle a rest by doing 30 minutes on the bike instead of running. Followed that up with mostly upper body lifting, and ended the work out with abs and a good stretch. And, of course, a fat burning strawberry smoothie :)
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| Beef Skirt with homemade marinade broccoli, black quinoa with radishes, red wine vinegar & green onion |
I pumped up during the first stretch with Icon For Hire, before enjoying the most certainly gluten-free Cake and their song The Distance (how appropriate) as the run became easier. I pushed my last mile a little hard to Here It Goes Again and nearly twisted my ankle off of the curb, trying to make a light. I feel amazing and optimistic that this training is on the right path, So I won't get burned on race day :)
4/14 - Oakland Athletics game! Anti-training day. Even broke my one drink limit. Tomorrow I will complete my 5 miles run and push tomorrow's easy 20 minute run to Tuesday as well.
4/13 - Rest. Did not do the cross training from Thursday. Will add to Tuesday.
4/12 - Brutal. Just finished 3.14 miles, 2 of which were completely up and down hills, the last mile was more or less flat, but against the wind. Feeling the burn! Another note - the more consistently I'm running, the more I realize I need new shoes! Mine aren't worn out enough to get rid of, but from now on should be reserved for the gym, or short hikes/walks, or maybe a future mud run. Open to suggestions of a good pair of shoes to start breaking in!
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| I'm tired, sweaty, and need new shoes! |
4/11 - Pushing today's cross training to Saturday
4/10 - Tonight's plan of overachieving by going to frisbee and yoga crashed quickly. A full day at work after too many days off, combined with the beckoning of household chores and organization and the chillness of a spring day brought me down to just my minimum training outline for the day: 2.5 miles. In a few minutes, I'm going to take a round about run to a friend's house to fit in today's work out. Still counts!
4/9 - I was supposed to either cross train or do 20-30 minutes of an easy run. Let's call today "rest" instead. I did take the dog for a walk and play basketball.... but not sure if either of those things really count or not. At least I ate fairly healthy and didn't lie around all day! Bonus - finished a lot of errands and paid some bills. Get money, get paid.... then pay the bills. (I'll apologize ahead of time for the language and hilarious stupidity of that video... yah'know what I mean!)
4/8 - Made up for my missed day yesterday. Ran first thing after getting up this morning. 4.28 miles. It was pretty rough going, as I hadn't eaten since an early dinner the previous day and didn't sleep well after overnight travels. Either way, I ran the whole way and felt accomplished by the end. It took a lot of Jillian Michael's voice in my head repeating "Unless you puke, faint, or die, keep moving." Will have to push today's scheduled Cross Training into tomorrow's rest day, since I goofed over the weekend.
4/7 - Surprise, Surprise.... my 4 miles run did not happen while visiting home. Will have to do it tomorrow. At least I improved my eating habits today compared to the past two days! Looking on the positive side and will attempt to improve tomorrow.
4/6 - Rest - did not eat much better today than yesterday. Oops. Need to practice better self control!
4/5 - I am home in IL for a funeral, and being home is continually a challenge when I'm trying to be healthy. From the moment I walk through the door, I am tempted with Cheez Its and popcorn, which I generally cave in to (and to be honest, I caved today too!) As much as I really just wanted to enjoy time with my family or catch up on sleep from traveling, I succeeded in forcing myself to do my 3 mile run. It wasn't great after traveling for 11 hours to get here and then proceeding to eat junk, but at least I completed the task. Tomorrow will be better!
4/3 - Ultimate Frisbee! On my calendar I have 2 miles for today's training. I think what I did was even better. I ran that 1.3 miles to the field and joined in a pick up game of Ultimate Frisbee, a game I played non stop for a summer and fell in love. I'm more than sure 1.3 miles jog + 2.5 hours of Ultimate count. Great way to stick with the training schedule: go hard core in something as fun and intense as ultimate frisbee! Be Ken Dobbins... or not.
4/2 - I left work early today to take advantage of seeing the Cartoon Art Museum for free and to fit in some cross training. I lifted for about 35 minutes before heading to check it out!
4/1 - Today was either Cross Training or 30 minutes easy run... tomorrow is a rest day. I am going to switch!
3/31 - The power of encouragement! Easter Sunday is normally a day full of family, candy, and general unhealthy behaviors. The majority of my family living in Wisconsin and the nearest members just far enough away to not make celebrations, this Easter Sunday was set to be different from the start.
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| Sometimes, all it takes is someone reminding you of this! (Picture from We Heart It) |
3/29 - Making training a priority was the only reason I was able to get in my run today. A simple 2.5 miles turned into a challenge, as I ended up working more than an hour and a half later than expected. As I finished my duties as work, there was only about 50 minutes of time before I was to meet R for a drink. Determined to at least run for 20 minutes, I quickly changed and left my belongings in my office and rushed to the street, only to be stalled by a coworker in a chatty mood. Don't get me wrong, I love to stand and chat, but have a hard time trying to pull away when someone vies for my attention. This chatter took about 15 minutes of my time, crunching my window of opportunity even smaller. I bolted out the door, jamming to a remix of Gotye, and returned 20 minutes later, with only 10 minutes until I was to meet R. No time to shower or delay, I freshened up as best as I could in the bathroom and bolted out the door once more, meeting her about 10 minutes late. At any other point in my life, working out would have absolutely not happened today. I'm quite proud that I made it happen - it gives me hope that I'll do better at sticking to my training plan than I thought!
3/27 - Official Training Day 1! I made a 13 week training program by finding several online and combining elements from each one that I like and with which I could see myself following through. Today - easy transition to work out mode from not working out for months: a quick 2 mile run. I thought I was in worse shape than I am, because I was able to run the whole way, without stopping, and at the end could have gladly kept running. I know two miles isn't that much, but I am feeling great and this training is off to a good start! (Especially since I didn't think I was going to fit my run in today between work, an appointment at the bank, walking the dog, and dinner plans tonight). The below picture from Pinterest helped get my butt moving! Pumped to continue training :)
3/25 - Half Marathon training starts officially on Wednesday 3/27!
My race is on June 16th, and I am completely out of shape and excited to begin.
I figured this blog has helped me so much with becoming a little more extroverted, maybe it will
also help me with my training! I'll post my trainings on here along with any related comments.
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