I have failed on so many levels this month. First of all, I haven’t posted since the first of the month. Secondly, I hit a wall and basically just took a week off of training for no good reason. I was doing really well keeping up my training until Oct. 9. Of course I had some hits and misses here and there, but overall I was doing really well. Especially considering my training calls for working out in some shape or fashion 6 days a week. That’s a lot for me. Anyway, come Oct. 9 and Travis and I took a trip to Sherman to visit his sister and her family while his parents were down from Nashville visiting them as well. So I knew that this trip would interrupt my training, but I had planned just to pick up as soon as we got back. Well, needless to say, that did not happen. I was pretty much a lazy bum for the rest of the week. For some reason I just didn’t feel motivated to workout or run or bike ride or anything. I knew this would probably happen, so I’m not surprised, but I’m still mad at myself for letting it happen. Anyway, I started getting back on track this Saturday with a 5k race. The Georgetown running club hosts a 5k the third Saturday of every month called Vern’s No Frills 5k. This race is pretty much what it sounds like – just a 5k. There are no T-shirts, no goody bags, nothing fancy. You pay $1 to help with any costs that might be incurred by the race and all leftover money goes to Williamson County Parks & Recreation. I had done this race one time before Saturday and I decided I needed to do it again since I’d flaked out for the week as far as workouts go. It turned out to be a really good decision. Now, I’ve done 5k races before, but in the past I’ve pretty much always ended up walking parts of them either due to tight muscles, not being in shape, overheating, etc, etc. Well not this time. I ran the entire 5k. It took me 35 minutes and 30 seconds to finish it, but I ran the whole time. And I ran the first mile on a 10 minute mile pace. I think that’s a first for me. Yesterday ended up being a rest day, but today is a day for weights and stretching. So I’ll be heading to the gym around 3:30 to get my workout in and possibly adding some Yoga or Pilates in later this evening. I might just take extra long stretching at the gym though. We’ll have to see. Anyway, I’m back on track this week and I’ve still got plenty of time before the half marathon, so 13.1 miles will be a piece of cake come January 30!
Keeping Up October 1, 2010
I haven’t been good about keeping you all up to date on my training. So here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to the past week.
Last Saturday was the PurpleStrides 5k in support of pancreatic cancer research. The race went pretty well, but it was crazy humid and pretty hot. I got a little overheated a couple of times and had to walk more than I would have liked to, but I still finished the race in under 35 minutes. So I still beat most of my training times. My parents were here last weekend and after the race on Saturday, Sunday was a rest day.
Monday I got back on track with my training and went to they gym for a strength workout. Tuesday was a running day and I ran the three mile loop around Lake Pflugerville with my friend Kristen. Wednesday was a cross training day, so I rode my bike for 11 miles during the lunch hour. Yesterday was running and strength training. So I went to the gym and ran around the lake with Kristen. Today is a rest day, which is good because I’m a little sore from yesterday’s workouts.
Tomorrow is a cross training day and I haven’t decided what I’m going to do for that yet. Sunday is a long run day and that will be 4 miles this week. Next week I’ll up my running distances so that will be interesting. Some days it has been really hard to keep up with my training but I know if I don’t do it, I’ll regret it the next day. And it makes me feel so much better when I workout so I try to only miss workouts on days when I have to. Again though, I have plenty of time before the race so I can repeat weeks of training if I need to. I’m really looking forward to running 13.1 miles come January. I’m thinking I might make this an annual event. It’s definitely good motivation to stay in shape and take care of myself.
Racing for a Cure September 24, 2010
My training this week got interrupted by a trip to Houston yesterday to talk with my PhD adviser at his new lab at Rice University. That said, I missed yesterday’s run and weight training. But, this week would have been a little wonky anyway since tomorrow I’m running a 5k for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. As you’ve probably guessed, the proceeds from this race support pancreatic cancer research. I’ll be sure to post how the race goes. In the mean time, here’s an update on what I did do this week: Monday – a trip to Curves and Pilates; Tuesday – 3 mile run; Wednesday – 5.5 mile bike ride. Yesterday and today have both been rest days. I’ll get back on track with my training on Monday. I plan to repeat week two of my training schedule since I didn’t really do that training this week. It’s a good thing I have plenty of time before the half marathon so that I can repeat training weeks if I need to. And it lets life happen as well. Have a great weekend!
Going the Distance September 19, 2010
Well, another week of half marathon training down… 19 weeks to race day. I last posted about my training on Friday, my rest day. Yesterday I went on an 11 mile bike ride around Pflugerville with my husband for some cross training. It was a great ride. Today was a long run day and I ran 4 miles. For the first time ever (I think) I ran for 4 miles without stopping. I’ve run 5k (3.1 miles) distance before but never really farther than that. It’s like I thought, “OK, I just ran that 5k, I’m good on running for a while.” While my 4 miles were a relatively slow 4 miles, it took me about 50 minutes to run them, I ran them all. I did have to pause once for a motorcycle to pass so I could cross a street, but that’s it. So I have to say that I’m pretty proud of myself right now. I know 4 miles is not 13.1 miles, but it’s 4 miles. And, when I was done with those 4 miles, I felt like I could have kept running for another mile at least, maybe more. I will say my feet are feeling it right now. Running around Lake Pflugerville is all on a gravel trail, so it’s not so hard on your feet. Today I ran all on sidewalks through the neighborhood and those are pretty hard on the feet. Since the half marathon will mostly be on roads I’m going to try to do at least one run per week on hard surfaces. And as the race gets closer all of my long runs will probably be done on hard surfaces for sure. Gotta get my feet used to the pounding. Well, stayed tuned for more reports later this week.
Every Step Counts September 17, 2010
It’s been a couple of days since I posted, so it’s time to update on how my training is coming along. Tuesday night I ran three miles and it was pretty killer. I think it was about 90 degrees outside and close to 90% humidity. I cannot wait for October. The weather should be nicer by then, I hope anyway… So that run went pretty well. Wednesday was cross training day, so I biked for 5 miles. It was a nice bike ride around the neighborhood. I didn’t do anything really challenging, but I definitely enjoyed myself. I’m starting to wonder why I never rode a bike before. I have definitely loved getting into bike riding. Definitely no mountain biking for me, but roads and easy trails are awesome. Thursday was back to running and weight training, so I ran about 2.5 miles Thursday morning and I went to Curves for some circuit training in the afternoon. My run on Tuesday was not the greatest; I was a little bit dehydrated. I’ve come to learn how important it is to stay hydrated, especially in the summer in Texas. I can tell a huge difference when I haven’t had enough water before a workout. It’s really not fun to run without sufficient water consumption. So here’s my tip for the day: If you are going to workout, make sure you’ve had enough water prior to your workout. You’ll feel the difference. Today was a rest day. After a run and working out, it’s nice to have a day off. Tomorrow is more cross training and then a long run on Sunday. The weekend should be fun! 
Hurdles September 14, 2010
So yesterday I started using a training schedule for my half marathon training. I’m using Hal Higdon’s novice half marathon training which you can find here. I like having something to keep me on track and keep me doing cross training and strength training. If you looked at the schedule, you saw that Mondays are strength and stretching days. This basically acts as a recovery days after long runs on Sundays. Strength training means a trip to Curves for me and stretching is usually yoga. Yesterday was tough though. I was just not in the mood to workout. I’m not too sure why I didn’t want to work out, but I didn’t. It was such a struggle to get myself to the gym, but I did it. I jumped the hurdle in my way and went to the gym for some strength training. I was really proud of myself for not giving in and just sitting around. Now for the stretching part of the day I just spent a little extra time on each stretch after my workout instead of doing yoga. I know yoga would have been better for me, but I pretty much doubled my post workout stretching time yesterday. So day one of following a schedule was not the best ever, but I did it and I’ll keep on pushing to the end. Today’s workout will be a three mile run. I’m waiting until later in the evening so it’s a little cooler outside which makes it bearable to run. I think in a few weeks the weather will start to cooperate and it might even be comfortable to run. It’s just so hot and humid right now. Anyway, I’ll be running three miles this evening whether or not the weather is nice. I’ll let you all know how that run goes in my next post.
Making Strides September 12, 2010
This morning I ran a quick 2.5 miles. I would like to have been able to go for a longer run, but I had a bit of a time constraint. I had to get home to get ready for church. Anyway, I chose to run this morning because there is a football game this evening that I really want to watch. Go Cowboys! 
I didn’t want to run this afternoon because it’s too hot and humid here. Even this morning at 6:15am, before the sun was even up, it was close to 80 degrees and the humidity felt close to 100%. It probably wasn’t that humid, but I sure was dripping with sweat when I got home.
Speaking of running early in the morning, in two weeks I’ll be running the PurpleStride Austin 2010 5k. This race is really close to my heart because it is in support of pancreatic cancer research. I lost my grandmother to pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago and I have a very dear friend currently fighting it. So, if you’re a runner and you live in the Austin area, consider running this race with me. If you’re not a runner but you still want to aid the fight against pancreatic cancer, you can make a donation to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network at my fundraising page.
Riding Around Town September 11, 2010
I didn’t post yesterday, but yesterday was a rest day, so there was really nothing to post about. After Thursday’s running and weight training, Friday was a rest day. Got to make sure I have plenty of time to recover. Today was back to the training grind. Today was a cross-training day so I got to do something different than running. My current cross-training activity of choice is biking. As I mentioned before, I got into this whole half marathon training thing because a triathlon pretty much just wasn’t going to happen. Because I thought I would be doing a triathlon a little less than a month from now, though, I bought a bike. Travis was actually really excited when I was going to do the triathlon because it meant I needed a bike and he could get one too. I was a little apprehensive about bike riding at first because it’s been close to 15 years since I biked. I just never really got in to it as a kid. Now that I’ve had a bike again for three months, I’ve really grown to enjoy biking. I’m not the fastest ever and I don’t do mountain biking, but a nice ride around the neighborhood is fantastic. We have quite a few bike trails here in Pflugerville, so that’s really nice and traffic isn’t too bad on any of the neighborhood streets. Whenever I ride with Travis, he pushes me to do more than I probably would on my own which is really good for me, even if I feel like I’m going to die halfway through the ride. I also love that we have an activity to do together. It’s a lot of fun to hop on our bikes and ride around for an hour or so. I think it’s only going to get nicer as the weather cools off. I am so ready for 70 degree weather to get here. Anyway, today I had to ride by myself and I only rode for 6 miles, but it was a good 6 miles and I won’t be too tired for my run tomorrow. So, if you’re looking for some form of exercise that’s not running, I’d recommend you check out biking. There are lots of different kinds of biking, and bikes for that matter, so there’s pretty much something for everyone when it comes to biking.
Frog Toes September 9, 2010
Labor Day put a bit of a kink in my workout plans, but I’m getting back on track. Today was a strength and running day which means I went to Curves and ran three miles. I’ve talked plenty about Curves in my last few posts, so now I’ll talk a little bit about my running. I pretty much used to hate running and I mean HATE, but lately it’s grown on me. I know it’s one of the best ways to get in shape and it’s really good for your heart. Since I’ve recently gotten serious about running, I’ve gotten quite a few things to help me get the best run possible. My favorite gadget is RunKeeper. This is a handy little application that I have on my iPhone that tracks my run using the iPhone’s GPS. This application is also available on Android phones. Once you complete an activity, you upload it to the web and can see what you’ve done online. You can keep track of your runs, walks, bike rides, and more. You can also add activities that you didn’t use the phone app for as well as things like runs on a treadmill or cycling on a stationary bike. I could probably go on about RunKeeper for quite a while, so I’ll stop here for now and possibly talk more about it later. Another gadget I love to use is my hear rate monitor. I use a Polar F6 which I think is no longer being made, but Polar offers a variety of options depending on what you want to use the monitor for. It’s really validating to see how many calories I’ve burned once I’ve completed a workout, and know that the information is tailored to my stats. And finally, these don’t really qualify as a gadget, my Vibram FiveFingers. I’ve grown to love these shoes. I use the Bikila model and they are fantastic. I use them for running, biking and working out at the gym. I’ve been using them since late June and they are a little worn looking, but they still feel like new (see pics below). They take a little bit of getting used to, your running stride changes so you feel your run in different parts of your legs, hips, etc. As you can see in the pics of my shoes, they get pretty dirty (and smelly), so it’s a good thing they are washable. Anyway, those are my main running helps. Feel free to ask me any questions about them.
(The puppies had to sneak into the second pic. They hate being ignored! )
Weathering the Storm September 7, 2010
It’s been a few days since my last post, but I haven’t taken all that time off from working out. Here’s a quick run-down of what I’ve been up to the past few days as far as training goes. Friday was a Curves day, otherwise it was a rest day. Saturday I didn’t really do anything workout-wise, but I did go with Travis and some of his band students to Gruene, TX to go “toobing” on the Guadalupe River. It was a lot of fun and I did do a little paddling with my arms, so I guess that was some sort of a workout. Sunday was another run around Lake Pflugerville. The run on Sunday was much better than the one last Thursday, so I was happy with that. Monday I would have gone to Curves, but since it was Labor Day, Curves was closed. Instead I went shopping with a friend of mine while our husbands mountain biked for three hours. So our husbands got a great workout while we spent some money. All in all, I think it was a good Labor Day. And while I didn’t get the greatest workout ever, I did spend close to three hours on my feet looking at things to buy. And those three hours on my feet were definitely much better than sitting on the couch for those three hours. And finally that brings us to today. Today there is a tropical storm over Austin; Tropical Storm Hermine to be exact. Hermine brought lots of rain all day long and a few tornadoes in the area, including one about 8 miles south of our house. Because of the weather, my planned run around the lake had to be canceled and instead I worked out with one of my DVDs. Today I used Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred. I used to work out with this DVD about three times a week. It gives you a really good total body workout in less than 30 minutes. There are also three workout levels with each level offering modified version of the moves used in that level. I know that sounds confusing, but basically this workout can be done by anyone at any fitness level. Of course, if you’re grossly out of shape, then even the easiest level will be pretty difficult. Anyway, these workouts are nice because you get some cardio, some strength, and some ab focus. Jillian uses a system of three 6 minute workout blocks, with each block consisting of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of ab work. So that was today’s workout instead of running. Here’s hoping the rain clears in time for Thursday’s run.
