Half Marathon Training?

So, I was kind of iffy on my jogging this morning. Jon and I decided not to get up at 5:30 and to sleep instead and, once he left for work, I settled down with my coffee to read blogs and wake up a bit. Fortunately for my own fitness, Emily @ Skinny Me! posted about finally officially hitting the 140s at a WW weigh-in, which really motivated me to get out there and get a jog in. Again, one of the many reasons I'm so happy to be part of the blogging community.

Anyway, after spending yesterday lounging poolside with Jesse, my fierce marathon running friend who thinks I can do anything (like run a marathon with her someday), for today's jog, I decided to go to Runner's World and get my own personal training plan for the possible half marathon Jon and I want to do in September (the current runners up are the Dayton Air Force Marathon/Half or the Hocking Hills trail run). Here's the plan that it generated for me:


Today, I did the 2 mile "easy run" and it wasn't bad. The training plan wanted me to do the two miles at a 13 minute pace, but, although I tried to run slow, my average pace for the two miles was 11:45. Afterwards, to keep myself out a bit longer, I walked back the 2 miles I'd run out. It felt good and I could have pushed it for a bit longer, but it felt really good to finally hit a goal for running that I'd set, since I've been stopping a lot lately to get my HR down or to get some water. It'll be nice to have a steady, 13 week training program again to keep me accountable. That was one the things I really missed from finishing C25K. I won't post the charts etc since, well, I'm a dork and forgot to turn the watch off when I got home, so my averages and such have been really skewed aside from that first lap (my 2-mile run).

Oh, and here are a few pictures from yesterday's bike adventure. I'd meant to post them, but then the post got so long that I forgot.








PS- The Salmon recipe from last night was great, I definitely recommend it. I poured the marinade over a bag of frozen asparagus stir fry veggies from walmart and it was all delicious. :) Now, off to read or clean the house or something. Ciao!

Weekend + Bike Adventure + Weigh-In

Whew! What a busy weekend! Lisa's bachelorette party went well, and I didn't drink (which I'd originally decided to do in order to save points). Though, I'm embarrassed to admit that instead, I ate quite a bit as well. That said, it was a fun time, with blue boas included. Here's a quick photo (borrowed from Katy's FB) of some bridesmaids with Lisa, opening gifts at the hotel before we headed out. :)


Friday I got home from the bachelorette party and calculated the points I'd eaten the night before...and immediately went out for a walk/run. Didn't begin to make a dent, but I felt good. Afterwards, I made some more of my pico de gallo and met Jon up at the lake for his company picnic, where Jon was the grillmaster for the company. Sadly, I have no photographic proof of this, though we did have a really good time—beautiful weather and I'm friends with a bunch of his co-workers. Andrew, one of Jon's co-workers who is known for his culinary escapades, decided to take this opportunity to make fresh fried twinkies, snickers bars, and oreos. I tried a bite of them... and let's just say that there are many other desserts I would rather have (for future reference). (Photo is from Andrew's FB... I'm just a photo stealing menace today... That's what happens when your camera gets broken... Sad face).

Saturday was the big wedding festivities... I squeeze in a run in the morning and we got up to Granville and checked into our hotel in the afternoon... at which time I promptly realized that I'd left my dress at home. Thankfully, Katy and her fiance came to the rescue and were able to stop by my house and pick it up! Anyway, the wedding/the weather/the venue were gorgeous and I'm so happy for the two of them. Nathan even cried during their own vows. Love them. I can't believe they're moving out to Colorado in two days! Talk about a fast wedding recovery!

(Photo from Sara's camera)
See? We know how to have a good time.

Sunday we left the hotel and finally stopped at the Coffee Cup in Nelsonville for breakfast. I've been driving by this diner for years, have always wanted to go, and never have. Thankfully, Jon and I weren't in a rush (the service was SUPER slow), but the food was good and the people were really sweet. Looking back as I write this post, I can definitely see why I gained this week... Definitely had a big breakfast. Other than that, we spent Sunday afternoon at the beach at Dow Lake. All in all a relaxing weekend.

That brings me to today's bike ride and weigh-in. Since my bike was still hanging out at my apartment complex, I decided to have Jon drop me off in town and that I would just ride it back home. It was really hot outside, but thankfully, most of the bike path is shaded, so I didn't get too hot. All in all, it took about 1:30:00 to run the half mile I ran beforehand (to get to the apartment) and the 13.5 miles that I biked between towns. Since I forgot to change my Garmin to cycling the first 4 miles are kind of odd, but here's the part after I set it to cycling:



I'm pretty impressed with this ride, even though all that distance only equates to 5 WW APs. Speaking of WW, tonight was weigh-in, and, as can be expected after eating everything I've just mentioned in addition to guzzling water like it was going out of style while I was at the pool today (a post-bike ride bit of relaxation), I was up 2 pounds when I stepped on the scale, which brings me to 172.0. I'm not pleased to be up this high, but I know how I got there. Furthermore, I'm really proud of how many activity points I got in throughout the week. It's definitely been my highest AP week in awhile. So, now all I need to do is keep within my points this week and keep up the activity and I'm sure I'll see results! Anyway, kudos to you if you made it through this post! Now, I'm off to make some dinner. Tonight: Soy Ginger Salmon with brown rice and veggies!

Week 6, Day 1

Whew. What a busy (and productive) day. I went and installed myself at the best coffee shop on campus (the Donkey) at 7 o'clock this morning in order to crank out all ten pages of my English final (due tmw at 4) and the last page of my 10-page French final (due tmw at noon). Getting there while it was still dark outside was an interesting experience, since Donkey stays open 24/7 (literally) during finals week, there were some interesting characters this at 7am. My favorites were the two people crashed on the couches upstairs 100% sleeping. Not "I dozed off" sleeping, but really sleeping. One guy even had an alarm set that went off at 8am. He promptly turned it off and went back to sleep. Long story short, today was a long and tedious day, but I finished the work and spent all day looking forward to tonight's run after sitting on my bum for 12 hours. See? On the left is a picture of my little study nook @ the coffee shop. It looks like I moved in. On the right, you have a little close up of all the essentials to get through the morning: the adorable feet lamp on my table (It has on blue nailpolish), a WW 1-pt bar, and my coffee.

Anyways, by the time Jon picked me up and we got changed (I substituted a zip up hoodie for the evil jacket), it was after 8 by the time we got running and I have to say the first 5 minute jog was actually pretty rough. My knees were hurting and I was feeling pretty bad about feeling so bad since I'd done so well yesterday. At one point during the run, the back of my right shoulder started to hurt, perhaps I was keeping my arms too tight? But, thankfully that too went away. After doing some blog catch up today, I paid closer attention to my stride tonight. I noticed that if I run on the balls (ish) of my feet or at least focus on hitting up front, my knees seem to hurt a bit less, but I find that stride kind of difficult to maintain, especially as I get tired.

Thankfully, I managed to make it through the podcast, and, as always, spent the rest of my time listening to my own music. One of the biggest benefits with running with Jon (well, at the same time as Jon anyways) is that he always runs for at least an hour, so I push myself to keep going/doing stuff as long as he's working out as well. Tonight, since we were forced to go up and back a few times since only 1.5 miles of the bikepath is lit up at night, we kept passing each other, which was fun. More importantly, I decided to try for another 20-minute jog. At about 18 minutes, Jon said he was going to stop when he got back to the bridge, so I turned around. So as to not keep him waiting too long, I thought I'd try to run at least until 25 minutes... then 30... and then the end. By the time I reached him, I'd jogged for 32 minutes (slowly) and finished a little under 6 miles total. I'm feeling really good about it and I stretched out a lot, but now, I'm off to finish my edits and massage my so-tight-they're-painful calves and go to bed. Night!

Week 5, Day 3

So this morning was the big run I'd been semi-dreading: 20 minutes non-stop. I had to run early so that I could go to see Chris (my PT for my knee) at 10am. We both hoped that I'd run and my knee would hurt and then he could get a better idea.

Today I started out in Athens at my apartment. Broke out the nifty jacked I lifted from my sister and got my play list ready. Since there were no intervals, I opted to use my iPod's stopwatch instead of the podcast—good life choice.

After my warm up, I ended up on the bikepath, feeling really good about the run after my first mile yesterday. To my surprise, the 20 minutes went by really fast and at the end of the run, I felt like I could have probably kept going. Instead, I stopped and walked for 5 minutes, trying to decide how I wanted to get home. In the end, I decided to pass by Jon's work and take a tour through campus instead, since I could easily use MMR to figure out distances since I'm good with my campus geography.

Originally, I was going to try and push myself to run 10 more minutes, but after 10 passed, it felt short and I had good music, so I kept myself going for another 20, then 25 before walking my final 5 minutes home. I've been keeping a steady (i.e. feels kind of slow) pace, but it's seems manageable. In the end, I ran 4.71 miles and if I put the 15m of walking with the 45m jog, that translates to a 4.71mph pace (duh, I know). So, not too bad, I think that puts me on track for my goal of a 40 minute 5k at least.

On a bad note, a) the "nifty" jacket chafed my neck really bad so I look like I'm wounded (or have a hicky?), so that stinks and b) when I got to Chris's for my appointment, my knee didn't feel as sore, so I think he thinks I'm making it up, even if it did steadily hurt throughout my run. Regardless, he used ultrasound on it and taped my feet again (that seemed to help last week) and next week if nothing changes, we're going to look into some $20 inserts that he recommends.

All in all though, epic win in the running department. I think this is beginning to grow on me. AND today means that I'm finished with Week 5, which is supposedly a scary week that induces many drop-outs. I've survived, though with a hurt neck. I think I might have to go ahead and invest in some real running gear.

Week 5, Day 2

Look at me all pumped up for today's run!
I need to figure out a better way to deal with my earbud cord
when I'm wearing this jacket though...
that was a bit irritating.
As promised, here are a few photos from today's excursion on the bikepath. Before starting W5D2, I wasn't feeling too nervous, but the first 8m run kind of had me wondering how the 2nd would go. Jon's finally out and running again and he kept pace with me for the beginning 8m run, but then he continued on jogging when I moved to the 5m walk. The 2nd 8m run wasn't bad either and, like I usually do, I kept running after the 5m cooldown at the end. I've found so far that this is where I really get to push myself. I guess during the podcast I end up being afraid of pushing too hard and not making it the whole time, but then afterward, I put on my own running mix (no offense, techno, but you get kind of repetitive) and keep on trucking, usually making for a 60 minute-ish workout.

Today I was particularly pleased. Sadly, there were no cross-streets today on the bike path, so it's hard to use MMR to see exactly how far I ran, but I know it was at least 4-4.5 miles, since it's a 1/2 mile from the house to even get onto the bikepath and then the first mile-marker I saw was 15.5 and I turned around at the 14. Good enough for me.

The best part of today's run was after when I turned around at that 14 mile marker. Although I briefly ran track in middle school and had to take PE etc. in HS, I don't think I've run a whole mile (without stopping) since then. But, today, I turned around and started running, telling myself that I'd run for two songs (the turned out to be "Thnks fr the mmrs" by Panic! At the Disco and "Rumors" by Lindsay Lohan...my workout mix isn't always the most thought-inspiring music) and then let myself walk. By the end of "Rumors," I'd already passed the 1/2 mile marker, and decided to push myself to the finish. So, thanks to Lady Gaga's "The Fame," and some fun French techno/club music, I made it to the 15 mile marker in under 12 minutes. That being said, I'm alternately looking forward to/dreading the 20 minute run I'm going to attempt tomorrow morning. I know I should wait a day in between, but I'm going to see the trainer at 10am and he told me to run before so that my knee will be sore (if possible). So, we'll see!

Back on track

Okay, I apologize, I fell off the face of the earth these past two weeks... The end of this quarter is really taking all of my writing time in front of the computer/in general. Due to doctor's appointments/interviews for our Paris program this summer, I haven't made it to WW this week, so no weigh-in stats (but I'm going Tuesday, so we'll have them then). I'm afraid I'll be up a few pounds, but it's okay. I'll live.

That being said, I haven't dropped the ball on my workouts at all (so I might just be okay). Although Jon has taken 2 weeks off of gym going in order to try and let his ankle get back to normal, I've kept up with going 5x/week, which makes me feel good since I no longer have him as a motivator.

This past week we had some beautiful weather in this part of Ohio, so I've taken to doing my runs outside. We're so lucky here in Athens to have the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway right on campus. It's less than half a mile from my apartment in Athens and less than half a mile from Jon's in Nelsonville, so it's easily accessible, safe, and, what's more, gorgeous. Oh, and it has mile markers that help you guestimate how far you've run. I've taken to using Map My Run to either plan my routes or check out what I've done, since I tend to stray from the path a bit and don't have an iPhone to use a GPS app like Run Keeper. If you have an iPhone, I recommend DLing it. Jon and some of his co-workers use it and it seems to work really well. We took an hour and a half walk the other day to enjoy the pretty weather and help him get back into working out and Run Tracker not only maps your route on a google map, but also tells you your pace, calories burned, distance, etc. Also, for you C25Kers, it lets you use it and listen to music (or your C25k Podcast) at the same time. Anyways, I'm done plugging the app, I'm content with the more tedious Map My Run in all my iPhoneless glory.

Anyways, I'm enjoying getting outdoors more after this epic winter. On one of my off days I took a chill 12-mile bike ride on the bikepath just to get a feel for where it goes and the scenery and all that and I can't wait to start seeing it get green and ready for spring. Also, I was so happy to finally get my bike out of storage. This means I can stop taking the bus and start biking to campus again. The only damper on the plan is that I can't figure out a) where I stored by bike lock and b) since I accidentally changed the code to unlock it last quarter, I think I've probably forgotten it... I might just have to buy a new one. Ulgh. Anyways, for now, I had to carry Mr. Bike down 2 flights of stairs from my apt to use him and then back up to store him in my bedroom. I love him, but he does take up quite a bit of space.

Today I'm going to do the Week 5, Day 2 Run and start at Jon's and head towards the bike path, so it'll be all new territory there too. Someday I'd love to leave my car in Athens and ride the whole way from Athens-Nelsonville (14.3 miles from my door to Jon's).

Let's see what haven't I updated about... Oh! I went and saw the PT for my knee last week, but I had taken the weekend off so when I got there it didn't hurt at all, so I kind of felt like the PT thought I was making it up. This week I'm supposed to run before I go see him so that he can see the difference and hopefully get a better idea. We'll see what happens! I just want to make sure this gets worked out so I can do the 5k in May.

Funny anecdote: I've told all the professors/people I work with I'm training for this 5k and yesterday I ran into one of them in Krogers. She looked in my cart and congratulated me on my tons of produce by saying "Gotta keep it healthy for that training!" It'll be fun to finish the 5k and show them photos in the end. :) Also, does anyone else surreptitiously check out the items in other people's carts? I tend to look at them and think "Oh, you could totally replace X with Y and it'd be so much better!" or "Wow, my cart really does look healthy (smile)." It's the little things I guess. Plus, if I don't bring it home, I can't eat it. Win!

Okay, well, sorry this post is so long and ramble-y. I'll try to be better this week about keeping you guys up to date. I really appreciate that you read/comment (this post is for you, Dave), it keeps me motivated. Actually, if the weather stays like it is, I think I'll take my camera with me and get some photos of my run to show you all. This week and next should be interesting for my runs since I'll be in Alabama this weekend and then back in Cincinnati for a few days for Spring Break. Hopefully I can find some fun places to run! More soon! :)