Things Worth Fighting For

Things are still going very well! Here's a breakdown of my progress:

2/10 - I ran three miles in forty-six minutes; not my fastest time any means, but for run/walking it's a good easy run pace for a treadmill.

2/13 - Three miles in forty-five minutes. Again, not my fastest but a little bit faster! Just trying to get as many miles as I can under my belt before this riduclously long run.

2/15 - Eight mile run!! Completed in an hour and fifty-nine minutes, just barely under my goal time of two hours. This still puts me at about a fifteen minute mile pace, which is one minute per mile slower than I need to be at to be able to be considered a "finisher" for the Riverbank Run. My motivation today was one of my close friends and sorority sisters from college who was in labor during my run; all I could think about was if she can be strong enough to have a baby, I can run, you know?? Sometimes the best things in life are difficult to achieve. Graduating college, having children, running a marathon; all difficult. And maybe those things are worth fighting for, and I would do better to remember that when I get discouraged.

Workouts Completed: 31
Miles Run/Walked: 87.6
Days Until 5th/3rd Riverbank Run: 81
Days Until Bayshore Half Marathon: 95

Still Cruising

Running has been going pretty well! Lots of long runs in, still all on the treadmill, which I feel is killing me slowly. I've ran next to loud breathers, cell phone talkers, wheezers, and even moaners (yeah, it's as bad as it sounds). But it'll be worth it come race day when I'm ready (well, hopefully)!

Anyway, I feel like I'm finally finding my stride this season! Here's what I've been up to:

1/28 - Easy Run - 1.25 miles
1/29 - Long Run - 6 miles in an hour and a half!
2/2 - Long Run - 6 miles in an hour and twenty nine minute
2/6- 3.6 miles in 56 minutes
2/8 - Longest Run :) - 7 miles in an hour and forty-five minutes
2/9 - Strength and conditioning day!

Still cruising! These parts are dry but really just a way for me to keep myself motivated in addition to logging miles and times easily! So thanks again for reading!!

Workouts Completed: 28
Miles Run/Walked: 73.6
Days Until 5th/3rd Riverbank Run 25k: 88
Days Until Bayshore Half Marathon: 102

100 Days Until the Riverbank Run!

Technically (when posting this) I'm past week 8! How had time gone by so fast?!

On Thursday (15th) I completed another 3 mile run. I've been averaging about 50 minutes per 5k (3.1 miles) which is much slower than in used to - I know since I'm on a treadmill times are a little slower than normal, but it's still disheartening.

Well, Monday (19th), my half day at work started off great, but I was so unmotivated to run; I really wanted to go home and nap instead of running five miles. I sucked it up and did my five miles though!! It took forever, and the treadmill restarted after an hour, but I finished :)

I'm really slacking at monitoring how I'm feeling during most of these runs but I'm on top of monitoring mileage so here goes:

23rd - 2.5 miles run/walk, took 40 minutes
24th - 2.5 miles run/walk, took 44 minutes (not including a mile on the glider and 2.5 miles on the stationary bike)
26th - 2.5 miles run/walk, 38
27th - 1.25 miles, 20 minutes (a strength/weights day)

Workouts Completed: 22
Miles Run/Walked: 49.75
Days Until 5th/3rd Riverbank 25k: 100 (ahhhhh!!)
Days Until Bayshore Half Marathon: 114

A Little Sidetracked

Sunday of Week 3: Went for a run Sunday evening and Planet Fitness was the emptiest that I've ever seen it! Today I was supposed to do 2.5 miles and I was going so strong with just one walk break by 1.25 miles when I accidentally pulled the emergency stop cord and the treadmill stopped my workout and wouldn't let me restart :( epic fail and it totally threw me off my pace. But I still finished, just not as quickly as I had hoped!

Monday of Week 3-
Had to use the glider since it was an awful day for my back!

Then the holidays kicked in and I pretty much stopped working out...

But now I'm back at it! Over the last week and a half I've rallied and completed four workouts, which isn't the best, but better than nothing! In those workouts I've completed several miles and stayed on track with my 25k workout plan!

Workouts Completed: 16
Miles Run/Walked: 33
Days Until 5th/3rd Riverbank 25k: 114
Days Until Bayshore Marathon: 128

Week Two

Sunday: Rest Day - lots of sleeping in, strecthing, and cleaning the apartment.

Monday - Kicked butt today! I was supposed to do a twenty minute run, which I completed with a couple short walk breaks and a five minute warm up and cool down, all at a 2% incline :) finally felt like I hit my stride, even if it was only for a short run. After that, I did my usual upper and lower back exercises and stretching :)

Tuesday - Rest day & Taco Tuesday :)

Wednesday -Went for a run after a long hard day at work... I had an hour and fifteen minutes to squeeze in a run and weights/stretching before my preschool's parent's night, and it was amazing; perfect way to blow off steam.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - Going great :) already feeling stronger and a little bit faster!

Workouts Completed: 10
Miles Run/Walked: 20
 Days until 5th/3rd Riverbank 25k: 145
Days until Bayshore Half Marathon: 159

Week 1

(Day 1: On last post)

Day 2:
Ran two miles during 1:1 interval training (1 minute of running : 1 minute of walking) for 20 minutes (per my 5th/3rd Riverbank Run Training Schedule), followed by more strength training! A little sore, but feeling great!!

Day 3:
Rest Day - and a much needed trip to On the Border with my coworkers!

Day 4:
I was supposed to walk 20 minutes today, so that was easy; didn't even go to the gym to to do it!

Day 5:
Let me tell you, if you want your pick of machines at Planet Fitness, just go on Friday night! I was only supposed to do one mile easy, but then I added a mile of hill training :) still feeling great!

Day 6:
Today was my first day with any pain at all when running; my ankle kept having shooting pains so I switched from the treadmill to the elliptical after a little bit, but I still got in my cardio!

Workouts Completed: 5
Miles Run/Walked: 10
Days Until 5th/3rd Riverbank Run 25k: 152
Days Until Bayshore Half Marathon: 166

Here We Go

I've signed up for two races for next spring that will hopefully keep me motivated to reach my marathon goal! First is the Fifth Third Riverbank Run's 25k, which is May 9th, and will be my longest run to date by just over 2 miles! I'm a little nervous but one of my friends talked me into it (thanks Jen!) and it'll help me stay on track to potentially run/walk a marathon Fall 2015.

Second, I've signed up for the Bayshore Half Marathon that's in Traverse City over Memorial Day weekend. This is a race that I've wanted to run for a couple of years. I've run the Bayshore 10k two years in a row now and I have always looked up to the people who complete the half marathon or marathon there. I knew that the race would be hard to get into (it sold out within an hour last year!) and I was right; it sold out in less than 20 minutes today! Thank goodness I was prepared and got signed up along with my friend Jen, cousin Mike and several others who I had no idea even wanted to do the run! Jeremy and Mike's wife Amy will do the 10k so we'll have a big crew heading on up there!

Since I signed up for both of those races, I decided that today I needed to finally get my Planet Fitness membership. So right after work I went on in and signed up and completed my first workout there. The 25k race has provided a workout schedule that I will be following to make sure that I am staying on track. Today's was a 20 minute run, and after I completed that I did some strength training afterwards to help with my back!


So far so good!

Workouts Completed: 1
Miles Run/Walked: 2.5
Days Until 5th/3rd Riverbank Run 25k: 158
Days Until Bayshore Half Marathon: 172